On the first listen to this schizophrenic debut from Bavaria's TWISTED ROSE, it's easy to imagine a high school group with slim pickings for bandmembers. The best singer around? Well, he looks like he should be in STEEL PANTHER and has the whiney, high tenor voice of an Emo kid. The guitarist is a former wrestler but you know, the big round kind with tattoos. Oh, and he paints half his face like a skull and wears a top hat. The bass player? Well, he DOES look like an Emo kid, with Fuschia-colored hair. And the drummer would be right at home in the CHILLI PEPPERS with his backwards baseball cap. But those are the best guys in your school, you know? Who cares what they look like?

The music is equally diverse, at times referencing KISS or JOAN JETT with a groove-centric, riff-based, 70's style. At other times, they are full-bore, anthemic, power-metal like SABATON As much as this, "all-over-the-place" vibe paired with their immiscible appearance can be a head-scratcher, these guys are NOT playing around when it comes to songwriting and production. BTW, that's a fancy word for "don't mix". Thanks, Google!! Every song on this album was written with a big stadium in mind. The hooks are infectious and the mix is punchy and tight. All the players are rock solid and they use keyboards tastefully to add some depth and texture to these straight-ahead rockers. Think, THE DARKNESS, THE SWEET mixed with COHEED or THE MARS VOLTA.

The album opens with a well-written but unnecessary synth orchestra piece that sounds like it should be in an anime film. It's great but makes absolutely no sense here. The first full-band track is "Sandstorm" and it's a driving romp leading you to a huge, sing-along chorus. Next up is "Metal Souls" with a nice "I Hate Myself For Loving You" grind. "Scorpion Stings" picks up the pace a bit with a more intense tempo offset by a really cool, intimate-sounding break. Track 5, "As Far As You Can" is a lovely acoustic piece that would fit in perfectly with any of the typical 80's rock ballads. And they close strong with "Stampede Howling" and "Now", two glammy rockers that really seal the deal for their signature sound.

There's a lot of good stuff here, the production and playing are fantastic but it isn't for everyone. It's not "metal" but it ROCKS.