The spirit of Rock N' Roll is in the house and even if i in modern form there are always a few sparks from the classical years. With a great pattern of Hard Rock, which was forged years back by the hands of Swiss bands as GOTTHARD and CRYSTAL BALL, it came back again through the material of their newly found compatriots SKANSIS and their second album, "Leaving You" via Escape Music. Unlike the American version of the genre, that is more robust, gruesome and sometimes even sleazy, the European version, especially of these guys, is rather more elegant and a bit softy. Don't get it wrong, this is neither Glam Metal nor AOR, this is how modern Hard Rock was meant to be played.

The main elements that I conjured and stumbled upon while I was listening to SKANSIS's music were their easiness and their basic song structures. The reason that I am mentioning those two is because both contributed yet also impaired the band's efforts. As CRYSTAL BALL's material was closest thing to what SKASIS did, you will see that this is the same old picture, meaning the same fundamental song templates. Needless to say that those common patterns created classics and boy that CRYSTAL BALL, and other acts as well, had some within their albums. The same was for SKANSIS. The strong emotive ballad, "Carry You On", that even though was on the brink of being too cheesy, made a good impression on me as it remained memorable. However, and I still continue with the songs' templates, it was just as LED ZEPELLIN once pronounced: "The Song Remains The Same". However, I must admit that there were some twists of darkness.

Deeper into the music, it didn't take me long enough to understand to what kind of stuff I got myself into. Musically there were some fine main riffs with slight American feels, a decent lead guitar line that I truly hoped it would improve but didn't go that far after all, and a nice piece of raspy vocals in the same vein of THE POODLES meets CRYSTAL BALL.

In overall, the album has a promising form. Not that I didn't like it, but I believe with this band's nice fundamentals that made them what they are, I kind of wished that it would be more than the plain ordinary material. Being emotive or touchy aren't elements that will always take a band further. The general perception of the songs, and there were some great once as "Never Walk Alone", "Just Another Day", "Rock All Night" and "Leaving You", was that I already heard this before. Even though the quality is good and the catchiness was set to the right place and rate, it came down to a point where I wanted a little bit more.

Tradition is a wonderful thing. As a fan of traditional Metal / Hard Rock, it was good to know that there are bands that "punch it vintage" is their prime mission. However, there was this urge to hear SKANSIS go a bit beyond the normal expectance. Anticipate that this album will take you back to a journey through the late 80s, early 90s and right back to modern times.