German hard rockers Crime have been around for a long time (although inert for a large part of their thirty year existence); On Cold Air, their latest album, they roll back the years to a time when genuine talent and hard work, coupled with impeccable influences, could take a band a long way…

There are fourteen tracks on this new album, which is possibly a bit much for all but the most committed fan – I certainly found my attention wandering a little towards the end – but the first half of the record especially is choc full of what we in the trade like to term ‘the good stuff’. After a scene setting opener, first track proper Break Down The Walls is a real roof-raiser, buoyed by fast-paced, chugging guitars, urgent drums and stabs of drama-inducing keys, all guaranteed to get the blood pumping and the fists punching holes in the air around you…

It’s great stuff, and, when coupled with the commanding vocals of Francis Soto, the whole thing really piques the interest and draws the listener in. Matze Ehrhardt unleashes a superb, Schenkeresque solo two thirds of the way through the song and these two act as the cornerstones of everything that’s good about the band’s sound throughout.

For the most part that sound brings to mind names like the Michael Schenker Group, Scorpions, UFO and their ilk; If you favour the snap, crackle and pop of modern production values and songwriting convention then tracks like For King and Country probably won’t be for you. But for the likes of us oldies at the front of the bus, the lipsmacking classicism of Crime’s approach to the game is like so much manna from the gods. Slowburner Like The Wind Blows is ‘proper’ music, music that you just don’t hear very much of these days, and all the better for that. If you’re in the market for some top-notch old time rock n’roll, then this might just be the album you’ve been looking for.

Cold Air is out now