martindavey87 James LaBrie and 80's glam metal. Shudder as the image comes into your mind. And yes, that's a four-star rating! I'm as shocked as you are!

Prior to becoming the voice of legendary progressive metal outfit Dream Theater, vocalist James LaBrie was a member of Winter Rose, a short-lived glam band. All the clichés are here; wailing vocals, bluesy riffs, a song called 'Diana', hell, there's even a song called 'Thrill of the Night', which is about as cliché as you can get. Throw in some lyrics about love, women and "the boys" and this is a very 80's record. LaBrie even treats us to the odd "huh" here and there. Outstanding.

But despite all of that, there's quite a lot of catchy material here. The guitar work is pretty standard of this subgenre, but impressive nonetheless, and LaBrie's voice, unhampered by age and future vocal cord ruptures, is in peak condition. At times it's slightly annoying and his pronunciation has always faltered here and there, but ultimately the guy is an amazing singer, and it's easy to see why Dream Theater were dead set on him after hearing this.

'I'll Never Fall in Love Again', 'Asylum City', 'One Last Time', 'Saved By Love', 'Rough Boys' and 'Never Let Me Go' are all great songs that, if you can get past the cheesiness of it all, are worth checking out. And in fact, there isn't a single bad song on this album. Though, for what it's worth however, despite my praises, this isn't really anything groundbreaking or new, and is only really noteworthy for featuring LaBrie. In which regard, this is mainly one for the Dream Theater collectors.