There's some decent stuff on the album.

Hollywood Monsters suggests a band, but the reality is this album is created around Steph Honde, a multi instrumentalist who handles lead vocals, guitars, piano and bass. A French expatriate now residing in California, Honde can hold his head high in Rock circles due to his experiences with French Rock band Café Bertrand, who opened for the likes of AC/DC and Deep Purple.

Honde ended up befriending legendary bass player Tim Bogert and managed to persuade him to play on some new Rock material, which resulted in this album. Bogert is not the only big name present here – keyboards are contributed by none other than Don Airey, with drums being handled by Dio and Black Sabbath stalwart Vinny Appice.

With that kind of backing, there's a lot of pressure on Honde to meet expectations. On 'Move On' he manages that in spades – the playing is great but the biggest and most pleasant surprise is his voice, which sounds a lot like Jorn Lande's. The title track is similarly strong, although some of Honde's accent creeps into the phrasing here and there. After the mellow 'The Only Way' he delivers another excellent impression of Lande's lower register on 'The Cage'; he can't match Lande's ability to soar and wisely doesn't try.

The album loses momentum midway through – following on from its two lightweight predecessors; 'The Ocean' is mostly acoustic and synth strings followed by the plodding 'Oh Boy!' It takes 'Underground' to pep things up while the Heaven And Hell-esque 'Village Of The Damned' sees Appice firmly in his comfort zone. Closing bonus track 'Fuck You All' features Paul Di'Anno on vocals and is one of the Hardest Rocking moments on the album.

There's some decent stuff on the album, particularly at the beginning and the end, and I was impressed with Honde, but a bit of variety in tempo in the middle of the album would have made it a much better listen.

James Gaden