STASH is somewhat of a cult band. The five piece from the Netherlands were originally active during the 1980s, releasing a demo in 1987. With no other releases in the intervening years, the band still attained a bit of a legendary status in their homeland, and so, now in 2015, the band have elected to re-record and release their material from the era of colourful leggings, big vocal hooks and even bigger hair!

The opening moments of "A Matter of Time" show just why STASH have achieved such a following. Epic and powerful straight from the off, the band are unrelenting, with forceful galloping grooves, scintillating lead guitar work, and rhythmic and song-writing sensibilities that would put many significantly bigger bands in the shade! With the underlying keyboards sitting really well against the classic metal style guitar parts, it feels of the era, yet with noticeably more edge to it than many bands of the time.

The band are just as gripping when they lower the pace slightly. "The Mountain" is dominated by a triplet-based rhythm, with a more prominent keyboard section than before, and another fantastically crafted vocal line. You'll be singing along to the chorus before the song has finished! "Hold On The Line" changes things up with an eerie, atmospheric guitar riff, before another solid, empowering groove kicks in, and a simple yet really emotive chorus. Ideas from the opening riff reappear during the solos, and the use of key changes really push the song to another level.

The title track, "A Matter of Time" is a touching ballad, with the vocals and keyboards of Bert Kivits and Edwin Woltering respectively being pushed to the forefront initially, before the inevitable introduction of the whole band for the chorus. Before even reaching the halfway point of the record, STASH have proven that they deserve to have had a much more high profile career than they've had - they can most definitely mix it with the huge acts from the States that came around in the late 80s. The second half of the record continues to be just as enjoyable as the first half. An instrumental break, similar to the intro to the album, has some jaw dropping acoustic guitar work, and acts as a palette cleanser before the big riff of "Born to Run" kicks in.

The only real criticism that could be made of "A Matter of Time" is that, at times, it seems as though the vocal performance has been over processed during production slightly. It's not a big issue, as the rest of the mix is great - guitar solos cut through without dominating, backing vocals on the big hook lines are blended in perfectly, and the balance between keyboards and guitars is accurately done. It's just something that might bother you at times, depending on your ear.

STASH is a band that undoubtedly deserves to be bigger on a global scale than they are! "A Matter of Time" offers up the same 80s keyboard based hard rock sound that propelled countless bands to worldwide domination, but is at times faster, heavier, and a whole lot more original!<