Our man Avi Rosenfeld is back with the latest in his Very Heepy… series, and, as usual he’s come up with a bit of a mixed bag, even if the concept of the album is as always the reverential titfer-raising to some of classic rock’s biggest names.

I’ll be honest, I’ve drifted in and out of Rosenfeld’s career – the last one of these albums I listened to was number nine, which came out in 2019, but this latest effort seems a little riffier, a little more guitar orientated, and is all the better for that; It also features two surprise ‘star’ contributions, rather than Rosenfeld’s usual legion of faceless but talented sidepeople, one of which is an unmitigated success and the other… not so much.

At it’s best, on Bridge of Lies and Total War, VHVP XIV delivers up some quality heavy rock thanks to some committed vocals from Paul O’Donnell on the former and Dyan Mair on the latter; through in some honking Hammond on the second of the pair courtesy of Michael Berry and you’ve got pretty much the quintessential Avi Rosenfeld track – if you’re a fan already, you’re gonna love this…

… And you’re also going to love at least one of those ‘star’ collaborations, too, as Avi enlists the talents of Harry ‘The Tyrant’ Conklin on closing track Black Rocks. As Conklins’ presence might suggest, it’s an old school metal banger, and it’s great to see Rosenfeld dipping his toe in his heaviest water yet. Conklin, of course, rarely puts a foot wrong vocally and that situation is no different here.

Not quite as successful, however, is the collaboration with short-lived Savatage throat Damond Jiniya, who seems to find the latterday Maiden prog of Fire And Ice a bit of a struggle if trutch be told.

Not bad at all overall, then, and as Rosenfeld maintains his habit of offering up his albums on Bandcamp on a ‘name your price basis’, you’ve really got nothing to lose by giving him a go.

Very Heep Very Purple XIV is out now.