Stephen After the superb two albums, RECKLESS LOVE managed to deliver another high quality creation that even slightly surpassed 'Animal Attraction'. If the band's playing with more syrupy flavor of the extremely-catchy melodic rock debut and started experimenting with a more serious approach of the sophomore, 'Spirit' is kinda fall in the middle of it. The maturity level is gradually improving yet they still retain the essence of 'having fun'. We can still find some ethereal ballads, joking lyrics, but blasted with a tight musicianship.

There are seriously a great of variety of tempos here, from the mid-paced anthemic tracks such as 'Night On Fire' or 'I Love Heavy Metal', to the heavy riffs of 'Metal Ass', from the mellow ballad of 'Hot Rain' to the cheerful energetic track of 'So Happy I Could Die'. Best track for me here is probably 'Sex, Drugs, & Reckless Love', and the next big one is 'So Happy I Could Die'. But some other tracks that's worthy to be rated around 9 or more are 'Bad Lovin', 'Edge of Our Dreams', and 'Hot Rain'.

Production could be bigger but I think it's worthy of an 8 and replay value is definitely high as I'm sure I'll be spinning this regularly for the rest of the year. Honestly, nothing's shocking to found out that this is still a consistently great disc from the band as I always have a great confidence they will continue the awesome run and what I've got here is on par with my expectation, and I hope you as glam or melodic rock fans will feel the same way too. Incredible stuff!

Stephen I didn't expect them to release the second album so fast, in fact a year gap is usually too quick for a band to really unleash their potential and a bit too hurried, but 'Animal Attraction' magically escaped the sophomore-flop-curse. It's not hugely better than the first, but at least, it has the maturity that I expect from any band, and even though they're still shadowed by the likes of Def Leppard, Motley Crue, or Bon Jovi from the 80s decade.

The title track opened up in midtempo fashion, a good starter but not the best here. The Leppard touch is very obvious, just like in the Hysteria-influenced, 'Fantasy', which is like a sequel to their earlier hit, 'Sex'. The great riffin' in fast-paced 'Speedin' reminds me of Ratt, the solo guitar is superb and the chorus is insanely nice. 'Born To Break Your Heart' and 'On The Radio' are paying homage to Bon Jovi, two of the best and infectious tracks to love here.

Like in their debut, the Euro-pop/dance influence that's cleverly blended with uptempo glam are shown again in 'Hot', the leading single, and the slower track, 'Dirty Dreams'. Both are my guilty pleasure and love em instantly. 'Dance' and 'Young N Crazy' might be the weakest but still enjoyable. 'Switchblade Babe' is big on Motley Crue riffs and 'Coconuts' is a fun-relaxing tune in the veins of David Lee Roth's solo album.

Overall, still a strong and fun album by the young band that prepares to depart Europe for a US invasion. Good luck to them and hopefully the Reckless Love saga will continue with the much stronger third album. Hard to keep up the awesomeness of the debut but nevertheless still a solid rack and deserved at least 85% from me.

Stephen After leaving Crashdiet, Olli Herman a.k.a Olliver Twisted, joined up the Finnish melodic rockers, Reckless Love, and released their eponymous debut in 2010. Their musical style is melodic hard rock/pop metal with early glam anthem and surprisingly, combined with a bit touch of new wave element on several songs. I can see bands like Poison, Guns N' Roses, and Def Leppard became their major influences. The sound production is very satisfying and judging by a support from major label, Universal, the future is looking bright for the band.

"Feel My Heat" and "One More Time" are two solid openers, Poison-fused party anthem meets guitar-driven White Lion. "Badass" is like a lost GNR track from Appetite session, quite similar to their classic, "It's So Easy". Guitarist Pepe is pretty good, even though isn't spectacular, but you always find a short passage of heartkicker picking on his solos. "Beautiful Bomb" has a huge chorus and potential chart toppers. "Romance" is a contemporary midtempo rocker while "Sex" is a beautiful ballad with an explicit 80s pop influence, you can also say this is like A-Ha goes metal. The same goes with "Back To Paradise", a fun track which influenced by the dancy Duran Duran or Alphaville. And the best song of the album is "Wild Touch", that’s reminiscent of early Bon Jovi with a fantastic chorus. Couple of decent tracks and probably only "So Yeah!!" is passable.

Reckless Love is highly recommended for fans of later-day glam metal and perhaps for fans of casual 80s hard rock as well, but not for the traditional heavy metal or early glam metal otherwise you'll be disappointed. I find this band pretty unique and talented, I have high hopes for the upcoming album and a great fun especially if you crank it up loud on a hot summer days.