SHADOW BREAKER is a band out of France, consisting (primarily) of old friends Chris Savourey and Franck Moondog. They have worked together, on and off, since the 90s; in bands such as SAVOUREY and NORTHWIND. They reformed in 2019 with this band. Their eponymous debut album was one I was looking forward to hearing, as their PR release had them listed as being "for fans of WHITESNAKE, MSG, and UFO," all of whom I love. It is unfortunate that the PR department missed this one as badly as they did.

Starting off this nine song release is "City of Lights," which shows promise in its introduction, only to fall short on the verses and chorus due to an almost Vince Neil-like vocal delivery. The guitar work of Savourey shines, however, and made the song one of the more memorable songs from this release.

Moving on, the song "I've Found Myself" is where my interest started to wane. The vocals were too much for my particular ear, and I could swear that I heard the lyric "You're sexy like a T-Bone"... not even great guitar work could hold my interest after that.

"Heartquake," which is probably a heartfelt tribute to the Japanese victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that took the lives of more than 19,000 people, plays out poorly due to some simply terrible songwriting. It was also here that the musicianship seemed to lessen to me, and any interest I had gained was lost completely.

The remainder of the record was more of the same. Poorly written, and with a very thin production value throughout. One last note of interest was the closing song "Fly Me," with an introduction seeming almost copped from the ALICE COOPER classic "School's Out." As a closer, it works well enough, and the musicianship picked back up to the point that it felt like an entirely different band.

As badly as I hate to say negative words on the folks trying to keep this music alive, I was severely disappointed with this release.