Produced by 'must have' rock producer of the moment Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, Journey, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Joe Bonasmassa, and most recently Black Country Communion) Out Of The Pit is the debut album from female fronted rock / metal act Kobra And The Lotus - a twin guitar five piece from Calgary fronted by the wonderfully named Brittany Paige.

One wonders what it must have taken to get Shirley behind the desk, because to my deaf ears Kobra And The Lotus don't actually bring anything new to the table. Mind you, the same could be levelled at Black Country Communion - one of the albums of the year, so maybe that's the object of the exercise.

Combining Lizzy style twin lead guitar lines with frenetic Maiden style metal riffery and Paige's punky vocals it's a combustible affair that should have mosh pits up and down the country throbbing when the band tour the UK in November / December

'Subtle' isn't a word you could associate with Out Of The Pit, with the pace hardly slackening from the first power chord to the last, including an incendiary cover of The Ace Of Spades. The only surprise comes with the closing track - Legend, on which Paige switches from punk to opera star for an unexpected melodic operatic opus. Beauty and The Beast, sums it up just about right.

***½

Review by Pete Whalley