Outloud are a new band making quite a splash on the melodic rock scene, formed by two members of Greek power metallers Firewind and including their fellow countryman, guitarist Tony Kash and American singer Chandler Mogen, last seen fronting Talon at last year's Firefest.

As you might gather from the dreadfully cliched album title, Outloud are not attempting to break any new ground or produce anything deep and meaningful. However, just like Eclipse did last year, they have taken the sounds of mid to late eighties hard rock and injected it with youthful freshness.

Fans of Y and T, Tesla and Dokken will lap up the two rapid fire numbers, What I Need and Outloud (the latter sounding like a brasher version of Rainbow's Spotlight Kid!) that bookend the album.

We Run boasts a very Gotthard-esque chorus, while Tonight is driven along by keyboards that reminded me of Bon Jovi's I'd Die for You. The ballads This Broken Heart and Lovesigh are excellent, but Kash is given plenty of opportunities to excel, notably on the middle pair of songs, Breathing the Fire and WIld Life.

As I said, there is nothing new here but, together with the likes of HEAT and Eclipse, Outloud are proving that new life can be breathed into the melodic hard rock genre without sounding dated. I'd love to see them get out and tour this album and make some new friends.

****

Review by Andy Nathan