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I heard this band's Dragonride some years back and while I thought it was okay, it didn't really get my rocks off. This is the fourth album from this 80's band who have enjoyed a modern revival and are dedicated to keeping the welcome NWOBHM elements in their sound.

The good is that this is a well-produced album of Heavy Metal with a punishing guitar tone and a lot of cool riffs. Almost every song has great parts, and the lead work is tasty and sharp. Black Hawk play heavy-assed Firewind/Mystic Prophecy riffs with a tasty dash of old NWOBHM flavor.

The bad can be summed up in one thing: vocalist Udo Bethke. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but he frankly sucks. He seemingly cannot sing on key, and his out-of-tune caterwauling ruins pretty much this entire album. In some places they stack up the backing vocals and these songs are much stronger because Bethke can't fuck them up as bad. The lyrics are pretty bad too, but I would overlook that if this guy's off-key bleating and lousy sense of meter and phrasing didn't butcher them and make them sound worse. If Black Hawk get a better singer – no, if they get a singer who is any good at all – then they could produce some awesome music. Until then, they will produce frustrating crap like this: great music with awful, awful vocals.