Vandallus are three albums in to their career already, though they still lurk in the shadows of public consciousness… That’s a crying shame on the evidence of this release, which is choc-full of tuneful, well-constructed hard rock which is resolutely from the old school but none the worse for all that.

Vandallus’ default setting is tough-sounding, midwestern hard rock that for the most part sounds like it was originally written between around 1979-82 and then put into one of those time capsules elementary schools used to loved burying for the ages… Hence second track Not Alone is a greaseball take on The Cars and Survivor, the excellent Bang The City Down adding a bit of Nugent, Bachman and Turner to the mix for added thrills.

Shotgun Lady provides much of the same; stadium-ready, bluesy, dirt-under-the-fingernails riffola, choruses that sound like they’ve been lodged in the back of your mind for years, and tasty leads that’ll have your fingers twitching along uncontrollably; The Osmonds’ Crazy Horses makes an appearance at the end for added authenticity!

Extreme metal fans might be surprised to learn that Vandallus feature two thirds of current extreme scene darlings Midnight in their ranks; although given that band’s penchant for mangling eighties metal faves on a regular basis perhaps not; but whatever the band’s pedigree and makeup, nothing should take away from the fact that what they’ve put together here is really rather enjoyable in it’s own right. Standout cut Cold Hearted is the sort of radio-friendly slice of hard rock all the greats of the late seventies and early eighties seemingly wrote in their sleep – this track will have fans of Coney Hatch jumping for joy as the wah-wahed solo screeches into earshot, and, though it’s hard to see this making any impact at all on people under the age of forty, the band surely deserve to be a hit worldwide amongst the older set of rock fans. Fun times guaranteed!

Outbreak is out on December 12th.