Stephen 'Monumental' is the follow-up album to Norway's hard rock act, Hardline, and probably many will get confused with Neal Schon's previous band that's releasing the sensational album, "Double Eclipse", back in 1992, but this one is a completely different beast. Their history goes back in the mid 80s, and went black out before reforming again to launch this in 2011.

Before listening to this album, reading them as a hard rock band from Norway will pop me an imagination that they'll sound like Wig Wam, Evenrude, or TNT, but when 'Shout' cracking in, looks like they're in the heavier non-melodic territory. Fine by me, it has great verse, good chorus, and also very nice solo, sounds promising. But then when 'Go To Waste' started with a generic riffs and very average arrangement, top with another sensational-riffs-but-dull-composition of 'Call My Name', I started to worry that this isn't as good as I expected.

the title track, 'Monumental', started to picking up the momentum, a Maiden-influenced track enhanced with quite a complex time signature change, great track here, but 'Still More Days' is sliding down the hill again. The next four tracks are totally passable, lots of grungy feel and 'Showdown' can even be considered a Pearl Jam left over.

This album has a great production and to sum up their music, Hardline is right when they say they're rooting in hard rock and traditional heavy metal, but they also flirted with alternative feel which might not a good idea for hardcore 80s fanatic and may alienate some fans with it. For me, the third album needs to pay a huge attention to the songwriting as there are too many average tracks here. Good to see them back in action again, but hopefully the next one is much better.

Windhawk Not too shabby this one and only release by Norwegian band Hardline.

Bass-driven hard rock with some metal tendencies is what's offered up on this album, in many tunes with a basic galloping bass line as the driving element, supplemented by simplistic but effective drums and slick riff patterns or drawn out guitar chords.

Simplicity is a keyword for the release in general, simple riff patterns when present, basic effects like the addition of selected undistorted guitar licks or short bursts of melodic riffs adds a lot when used sparingly, and the guitar soloing is kept simple too; and the few instances where atmospheric solo guitars makes you pay attention when they come. Vocals are melodic with talk-like qualities, reminding slightly of Ozzy Osbourne.

There's not a lot to explore in these compositions though, and the band are smart enough to keep it short and simple; never overly exploring the ideas. Thus the good ideas don't drown in too much repetition, and the ones not as good are over and done with fast.

If basic hard rock verging on metal in style sounds interesting, this act is worth checking out - if you're able to track down that one album they released on vinyl back in 1984. It's not a brilliant creation no matter how you measure it, but quite a few good tracks if you like this style - and it's a release from which I've played selected cuts on a fairly regular basis the last 20 or so years myself.