The band’s ‘Lint’ album is a real ‘must have’ for any melodic rock fan and what set the band ahead of many similar bands was their use of harmonies and mixing in world music influences (just listen to ‘Elephant Machine Gun’ for proof).

This is the band’s fourth studio album and the first since ‘III’ (MTM) back in 2000. The main change is sadly loss of the aforementioned world music influences, although bits do appear here and there, but the harmonies are still in place. ‘Hey Lord’ rocks along nicely and outdoes Journey in the vocal department. ‘Uncontrolled’ sees the band record one of their heaviest tracks with driving guitars and heavy rhythm. But the band pull off acoustic moments in style with ‘Black and Blue Skies’ - a real ‘lighter in the air’ moment.

House of Shakira are quite simply one of the best melodic rock bands around and manage to take past influences on board (like Journey), without sounding like copycats, whilst adding their own sound. Bands like this ensure that rock music remains fresh and not just populated by bands living on past glories. Crank it up and sing along!

****

Review by Jason Ritchie

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