An essential purchase.

Hardline are a band that need little or no introduction to the world of Melodic Hard Rock; bursting on to the scene with 1991's 'Double Eclipse' featuring Neal Schon and the Gioeli brothers, this is an album on many people's "favourites" list. The band disappeared for a decade before the second release ('II') came out on Frontiers, with The Storm's Josh Ramos replacing Schon who had returned to the Journey camp.

Fast forward to the present and 'Human Nature' is the follow-up to 2012's 'Danger Zone' and the band has, for the first time, maintained the same line-up as the previous album. Hardline's only ever present vocalist Johnny Gioeli has teamed up with the multi-talent Alessandro Del Vecchio to write and record the bands fifth studio album. Along with Ramos and Gioeli, the band is completed by the rhythm section of Anna Portalupi (bass) and Francesco Jovino (drums). As seems to be norm with Frontiers, Del Vecchio has once again worked his magic with the writing and production.

The first single from the album, 'Where Will We Go From Here', is a hard-edged bombastic anthem, one which sets the pace for the release; the guitar work is immense and you can feel the power through the crystal clear production. The title track features Gioeli at his best, again proving that this guy possesses one hell of a set of pipes. The keyboard-led 'Take You Home' is a beautiful song with Alessandro's vocals backing up Gioeli, something that gives the song great depth. '...Nature' is chock full of songs that instantly grab you and the quality of tracks doesn't fade as it progresses. The two concluding offerings, 'United We Stand' and 'Fighting The Battle', are amongst the best on the album and Ramos's guitar work is on fire.

For me '...Nature' is the best Hardline album since the debut with song-writing that is top class. The group have definatley gelled and having a consistent line-up has helped the band reach the top of their game. I can see this release being in many people's 2016 Top Ten. Hopefully they will be confident enough to bring this line-up out into the live arena as the Hardline's appearance at 2013's Firefest was one of my all-time favourite performances. Hardline and 'Human Nature' need to heard live. An essential purchase.

Mick Parry