WWIII

The cover of this album gives the impression that this could have a Fields of the Nephilm/Dustdevil type vibe about it. As they say, don’t judge by the cover. What we have here is an album of really quite traditional metal.

It’s all very well executed ' the members of the band clearly know their way round their instruments ' and the production is spanking. The singer Mandy Lion has a gravely 50 Marlborough’s a day rasp that complements the material well. But, that’s not enough if your material is, to be honest, a bit dull.

It starts well enough with 'Rise’. An impressive riff, and bass and drums working well together to produce a strident piece of quite doomy metal. Unfortunately, they can’t maintain it, and as you get further into the album too many of the songs just flow past you without leaving much of an impression. 'Fighting for the Earth’ improves things, an interesting multi layered track, and I thought I heard some early Judas Priest here, but that could be me. The ballad 'Garden of Stone’ plunges the band back into mediocrity, and they don’t really recover.

I think that is the problem with this album: mediocrity. It’s too predictable (I knew when the guitar solos were coming, and when the band would go into strident march mode) and the band just sound as if they are going through the motions. There’s nothing here that hasn’t been heard before which in itself isn’t a fault ' Wolfmother and The Answer barely have an original riff between them - but they have a spark that is missing in WWIII.