It’s impossible to understate just how important an album 2008’s Animal Instinct is to UK veterans Tygers of Pan Tang. Sixteen years down the track it can be seen as the album that re-ignited the sinking fortunes of guitarist Robb Weir and whoever happened to be accompanying him on the Good Ship Tyger; At the time, of course, with no certainty that lay ahead, Weir took his last throw of the dice by recruiting then-unknown Italian singer Jacopo Meille. The rest, as they say is history but this album stands as testament to the power of stickability and never letting a dream die…

Having a few stone-classic songs in the mix didn’t hurt, of course, even though Meille is one of those ‘sing the phonebook’ type singers; And the quartet of tracks that open Animal Instinct are as good as anything in the Tygers canon whether recorded before or since. Live For The Day, a blues-based stomper wherein Meille sounds like nothing less than a dead ringer for Diamond Head throatsmith Sean Harris, is shot through with the sort of pure class most bans can only dream of, whilst the thunderous heavy metal of Let It Burn showed that the band had lost none of it’s NWoBHM piss and vinegar. Both are classics, and when coupled with the opening brace of Rock Candy and Cry Sweet Freedom they declared, in no uncertain terms, that this was a version of TOPT that wasn’t messing about.

Weir’s  partnership with guitarist Dean Robertson is impressive throughout, whilst Brian West and Craig Ellis thunder away in the engine room in support (Ellis again underlining just what a good drummer he is), but it’s Meille who is really the star here, coming from nowhere to deliver a bravura, cocksure performance that more than matches the best material on offer whilst lifting some of the more workaday material through sheer force of talent.

As far as career-saving albums go, Animal Instinct certainly fits the bill. Now, in 2024, given a fresh lick of paint and with the addition of classy new cover and a bonus track to boot, there’s never been a better time to revisit this corker of an album.

The Animal Instinct reissue is out now.