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Holy Cross' first album, Under the Flag, was full of Norse themes and straight-up Euro-Heavy Metal music, both of which they've ditched on album #2, Place Your Bets. This new one looks to the New World for inspiration, settling on East Coast Thrash and California Heavy Metal. Vocalist Mickael Champon has polished both his English and his delivery and sounds much better this time. Whether he's singing like Joey Belladonna ("Bad Day"), Bobby Ellsworth ("Unleash the Cross") or John Bush ("Place Your Bets"), he's in tune and belting out the lyrics. Musically, Place Your Bets is thrashy Heavy Metal for the most part, with tight riffs and a lot of sharp, jagged edges to catch your ear drums on. There are some twin guitars and melodic bass lines that bring Iron Maiden to mind but overall, I'd have to say the album sits somewhere between Among the Living and March of the Saint. The one exception would be the closer, "Higher & Higher," which, with its happy, major chord song structure and alcohol-related theme, makes me think of early Motley Crue or W.A.S.P.

Holy Cross does a nice job of sounding authentic without emulating any one band. Place Your Bets doesn't have anything top shelf but it is solid throughout and good bet for fans of Heavy/Thrash Metal.