Artist: Lillian Axe
   Title: Water Rising
   Label: Locomotive Records

First off let me say that anyone about to sit down and listen to this album should do so with an open mind.  This album is totally different to any material Lillian Axe have come up with in the past.  So for those people expecting something along the lines of the debut album you will be disappointed.  That’s not to say this is a poor album, far from it, the material on here is dark and moody, but with quality musicianship, huge multi-tracked machine gun guitar riffs and melodies in abundance.  There are 12 tracks on here, stretching to just over 67 mins, with influences as diverse as Nickelback, Led Zeppelin and a more contemporary Motley Crue cutting through.

The line-up of founder member Steve Blaze, new vocalist Derrick LeFervre, Eric Morris on bass, Sam Poitivent on guitar and Ken Koudelka pounding the skins have produced their most contemporary album to date. 

'Waters Rising' could have been written for Nickelback and 'Antarctica' is a stomping huge wall of sound.

'Become A Monster' is contemporary Motley Crue without Vince Neil on vocals and probably my favourite on the album

'Quarantine' hints at the Stones and 'I Have To Die, Goodbye' is pure Zeppelin.

'Fear Of Time' and 'Until The End Of The World' whilst not standing out, still show the pedigree and quality of this band great guitar and bass sound on these songs.

'Fields of Yesterday' kicks off with some brooding keyboard leading into acoustic guitar, the vocals harking back to some 60’s vibe.

'Thirst' opens with multi-layered guitars then goes into staccato riffarama.

The acoustic guitars at the beginning of 'The 2nd Of May' gradually build before those huge guitars kick in again.

'Deep In The Black' and '5', an instrumental, close the album and once again feature big guitars and thundering bass. 

As I said at the beginning, come to this album with an open mind and you won’t be disappointed.  The production is top notch, with guitars aplenty and a massive drum sound, Derrick LeFervre, whilst being no Ron Taylor, brings melodies reminiscent of Saigon Kick to the table and bassist Eric Morris manages to give a Nikki Sixx tone to some of the songs.  Overall this is not a bad album and way better than some of the new bands are coming up with.

* Review by Brassy.

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