Somewhat amazingly, French glam rockers Blackrain are just about to foist their seventh full-lengther upon the ears of a largely unsuspecting world; That’s dedication to the cause right there, as their journey from speed/power metal mayhem to tor-tapping pop-infused Euro rock has largely been a matter of swimming against any prevailing musical tide you care to mention. So, even if Untamed wasn’t much of a record, they deserve massive props for that.

Luckily, however, Untamed is really rather good. It’s not quite up there with the likes of Dynazty or the resurgent H.E.A.T., but the band really are getting close on golden nuggets of melodic metal like Kiss The Sky. Vocalist Swan has an archetypal Euro metal voice, and, when melded on this song with some amazingly over the top gang vocals it’s pretty much irresistible. Parping keys snare the ear, axes blaze… it’s perfect stuff, I tellz ya!

The little edge Blackrain have on their pop metal rivals is that they haven’t quite shed their heavy past; you’re never that far from some muscular riffage or, better yet, flashy lead work from Swan and six string compadre Max 2. This is a pleasing best-of-both world scenario, and the band don’t lose sight of it’s possibilities at any point on the album.

Dawn of Hell and Demon are almost as good as Kiss the Sky; Primetime Bonfire is a big component of this band’s sound – I keep half expecting them to head off into a balls-out take on Ready 4 Reaction at any given moment – but another one of Blackrain’s more appealing talents is their ability to take large chunks of other band’s sounds and repackage them for their own audience with a slickness and joie de vivre that’s uttterly appealing without ever becoming tired or hackneyed.

Summer Jesus, for instance, will have you scratching your head for a while until you realise it’s Bon Jovi you’re reminded of (I’ll leave you to find out which song), but Blackrain are good enough in their own right to avoid being just another Euro metal tribute act. They’re too experienced to go down that road, and time and again on Untamed you’re simply reminded that they are pretty damn good in their own right… Hugely enjoyable!

Untamed releases on November 25th