BORN FROM FIRE is a classic heavy rock song with amazing solos and starts the album off with a real bang. It is a sure fire sign of things to come on the album and leads nicely into VIRUS OF SILENCE, a very heavy song featuring powerful guitars. There is nothing particularly memorable about the song other than the classic solos again, with the guitar work the definite

FREE AS THE WIND begins with an acoustic intro lends itself to the heavy verse that follows. The song has hints of Iron Maiden about it, which can only be a good thing.

FAKE MADNESS – like FREE AS THE WIND - starts acoustically before bursting into powerful guitars. There is constant switching between slow and heavy and vice versa which works brilliantly. The sign of a good band is to successfully merge such contrasting styles and No Fear pass this test with apparent ease.

MOONBLUFF is a much more all out rock track. It is very raw sounding and features an interesting mid-song breakdown that slows the song down and takes away some of the momentum before hitting the listener with another cacophony of ballsy guitar work and heavy machine gun like drumming that takes the song out with a bang.

POINT OF NO RETURN is a slower and more melodic song offering a contrast to some of the other songs. It is a far more emotional song; once again showing No Fear are willing to write emotive songs without compromising on power.

OUR SAYING is a final all out assault in all aspects of the song with guitars, vocals and drums all sounding unbelievably ferocious. No Fear really give it their all on this closing track and that’s why you won’t be forgetting them in a hurry.

The album contains many highlights, the most important one being that none of the songs would sound out of place on any given classic heavy metal album. The vocals can be noticeably compared to Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden and the guitar work on VIRTUAL LIFE wouldn’t sound out of place on Metallica’s ‘Kill Em All’. This ability to write such mature music on a par with some of the all time greats is no mean feat. Credit to No Fear on their ability to take a well recognised genre and put their own spin on it with the help of obvious inspirations. This album should be recommended to any fan of heavy metal.

For more information, check out http://www.no-fear.it.

Review by Jonathan Brown