Finland is famous for its astonishing bands such as FINTROLL, H.I.M., THE RASMUS and NIGHTWISH with INDICA now joining that list. The all-girl Pop Rock group hailing from Scandinavia has released their 6^th album ''Shine'' through Nuclear Blast Records which is bound to give them international success with the astonishingly beautiful album. Forming in 2001 the girls have not stopped working and each album has just improved with every member putting more passion in each release.

''Shine'' opens up with ''Mountain Made Of Stone'' which is an incredibly weak song in comparison to other song's on the album. Jonsu gives a haunting atmosphere with her violin playing followed by her soft vocals singing the lyrics but sadly towards the end of the song where Hard Rock guitars and drums are introduced her vocals sound weak and strained which ruins are perfectly good track. The song is emotional which needs a lot stronger vocals to make this into an amazing track. ''Uncovered'' is a huge improvement to the previous track with Jonsu sounding much better with her vocals. Sirrku takes centre stage within the band with her melodic keyboard scales where Laura's drumming just improves that sound. This album gets better with every song being played but ''Uncovered'' is still very weak. Opening up with a very cheerful riff from Jenny followed by Jonsu's vocals, ''A Definite Maybe'' doesn't even fit in the Rock genre as it has the most Pop vibe out of every song on ''Shine''. The lyrics have a much lighter tone than the previous tone and every takes part in the backing vocals in the bridge. ''A Definite Maybe'' is for anyone who loves melodic pop with an acoustic rock vibe to it.

INDICA carry on with the melodic Pop with ''Goodbye To Berlin'' but with more keyboards parts than any other song on the album. Jonsu's vocals work better with all the bands input with this song as you can really tell everyone has worked hard on this. Yet again the band keep on with the cheery 80's Pop lyrics which sometimes don't even make sense but it's still a song you can click your fingers along too. After two super cheerful songs INDICA are back to their darker tone of music with gentle guitar playing which is simplistic but elegant in ''Run Run''. This track is exactly what ''Shine'' needed to bring it out of its shell which has a cover of overly cheerful pop. Jonsu's gentle voice is carried away by the music which is easy to relax to and doesn't hurt your head with a headache. ''Run Run'' is easily one of the best songs from ''Shine'' no doubt about it. ''Here And Now'' shows how INDICA goes from strength to strength in their song writing process along with their instrumental parts. Jenny's guitar tone is dark and heavy which is only made better by Laura on drums and Heini on the bass guitar. The track is a heavier version of ''Run Run'' but with everyone at the top of their game at playing their selected instruments.

INDICA brings back the cheerier lyrics in ''Missing'' with a little bit of the dark mixed in, still a good track but not as good as the previous two hit songs of the album. Jonsu's vocals sound extremely strained when she hits the chorus with high notes. ''Missing'' is dramatic in all parts but it does miss something which makes the song stand out from the rest. ''Hush Now Baby'' is the final product of what WITHIN TEMPTATION would sound like if you mixed it with the Celtic genre. The violins work perfectly with the guitars along, Sirrku's keyboards playing is sweet and gentle which is what was needed for the song. What makes it even better is that it fits perfectly with the next song on the album. ''Behind The Walls'' is typical Finnish Pop Rock at its finest. Dramatic but easy to listen to for any fan and Jenny is on top form with her distorted guitar solo at 2.23 with Laura blasting at the drums. Jonsu's vocals are great but could have been a lot better than how they are sung. INDICA are a strong female band but they know how to project their voices.

Penultimate track ''A Kid In The Playground'' has a psychedelic instrumental with hard rock guitars followed by that. Jonsu's vocals do let the track down sadly as her voice sounds very out of place with this song having such a different sound than the rest of the album. It's a good song but nothing special when compared to ''A Definite Maybe'' and ''Run Run''. Final track of ''Shine'' is ''War Child'' which is a song you would automatically think would be impressive but you are just hit by disappointment throughout. Jonsu's vocals are average but weak but everyone else's input does out do her. As a final track to the album it is not what you would expect and there is something missing to make you want to listen to ''War Child''

''Shine'' is a good album but is not one of INDICA's best releases, ''Run Run'', ''A Definite Maybe'' and a few others do make the album fun to listen to but songs like ''War Child'' bring it down heavily. All members are talented but this is a poor effort from the Finnish Pop Rock group.