Stephen Hungryheart is the Italian's answer to the fertile growth of Scandinavian's melodic rock scene, an acclaimed proof that western Europe has the guts to preserve the glorious sound of the olden days. Led by guitarist Mario Percudani, Hungryheart brought back the classic melodic rock sound of the late 80s which popularized by the likes of Bon Jovi, Firehouse, Journey, and White Lion.

Out of eleven tracks presented here, I can say that almost all songs here are pretty much enjoyable, especially if you like those bands mentioned above. "Rock City" is a wonderful anthemic opener, the energy is obvious and the melodic tones are everywhere, definitely a powerful starter. "Stealing The Night" is a beautiful radio friendly midtempo track, along with other numbers such as "The Only One", "Breath Away", and "It Takes Two". Couple of ballads thrown here are good with "Innocent Tears" borrowing Europe's intro and came out better compared to "Hang On To Me" which ran too long and could easily bored the listeners.

What I admired here is the exceptional guitar delivery and riffs construction, beside the very good crafted songs, but my complaint is the lack of pitch control performed by Josh Zighetti. He actually has a very good raspy voice, sitting between Rod Stewart and Steve Lee, but the spottable out-of-key singing is buggy at times. Other than that, Hungryheart is an amazing effort by the quartet and a solid career starter.

Bottomline : A fun nostalgic ride to the past