The name may not mean much to you but this band features three members of the mighty UK rockers Kick, namely vocalist Nick Workman, bass player Mikey J and his brother guitarist Chris Jones. The songs on here were originally written and recorded in the pre-Kick days. They have since been spruced up with added musicians, whilst keeping some of the original keyboard parts recorded by Steve Newman and Ollie Cunningham (Kick).

Unlike the modern hard rock approach of Kick, WildKard's music revels in keyboard filled hooks and there are some classic hard rock/AOR gems on here like 'Falling Down' and 'All I Have' (this one has OTT keys to match Greg Giuffria!). There are a couple of good slow numbers as well including 'Whispers in The Dark', which with the addition of strings really makes it a tour de force and Nick Workman's vocals are in fine form.

'Wake Me Up When It's Over' sees the standard dip slightly but 'Something Strange' soon puts the album back on track.

An absolute 'must have' for lovers of keyboard led hard rock/AOR as purveyed by FM, Heartland etc. Just shows the talent held by the collective members of Kick.

****½

Review by Bill Leslie