I always find it amusing when bands include in their bios sonorous statements about finding their way through hard situations, title choices and stuff like that. After the release of their previous album, Infected (2007), Swiss hard rockers SHAKRA strike back with this new release from AFM Records and are eager to climb Everest and bring you some of the 'coolness' they claim to possess. Should I perceive this album like climbing Everest mountain? Maybe not.

Personally, I find Everest better than the previous album. Ashes To Ashes makes the first step in 'ascending', a dynamic track that attracts the listener's attention. In the same line with a EUROPE-ish air and heavy riffs follows Love & Pain. It seems that SHAKRA remain infected with GOTTHARD and, more widely speaking, with the European Hard Rock scene (mostly the German one), and that is quite understandable. Among tracks you will unavoidably find similarities; some examples are Let Me Lie My Life To You, Regressive Evolution and Anybody Out There.

In songs like The Illusion Of Reality, Right Between The Eyes and The Journey, that have several heavy parts (EDGUY, JUDAS PRIEST, HAMMERFALL), it is still difficult to cut off from the defined line and - hence - they slide again into the limits of the genre. Peculiarly, The Journey has a really catchy heavy riff, and for me this is the peak moment of the album. There are also a couple of ballads included in Everest. The first one, Why, is one of the two videos about to be made for this album, - the other is going to be Ashes To Ashes-  and is an ultra sweet/desperate ballad, while Hopeless has a nice melody, but nothing cracking.

By and large, Everest ain't a bad album; maybe the songs don't have the riff variety, one anticipates, but it has well played melodies, good delivering by Mark Fox and a bombastic production, which acts a lot upon the formation of the final opinion. There are several bands that move in the paths SHAKRA do, so there is nothing against it. Moreover, for being so many bands probably there must be a demand, and SHAKRA know the game and the way. To conclude, if you haven't got it yet...Do  you like the way European Hard Rock bands perform? Do you like GOTTHARD? A dash of heavy/power sound? Hoarse vocals (that go to eleven)? If yes, then you can make some space in your collection for this release.