I've been waiting for this new album to reach my ear drums for what seems like an age. Due to other commitments, I couldn't even listen in the days leading up to the release date (31st October)! But I've made up for it now, and this album is totally worth the wait!

The album kicks off with the title track, grabbing your ears with that 'Once Upon A Time In Mexico' neo-Western sound that ramps up into an all out assault on that part of our soul that rages against the evils we can see all around us: the greed, the bigotry, the corrupt elite that keep getting away with it, powers that be that want to keep the power for the few, and so many more instances that add to the litany of sins every single day! We are the storm, the silent majority that are starting to be silent no more. Things have to change, and this is the anthem to get us started!

It is the perfect opener and sets the scene for what follows, as we race though track after track of deep and dirty guitar riffs, complimented by the use of Hammond growls and harmonies that Jon Lord would be proud of, all leading to vocal and guitar crescendos that show a singer-guitarist duo (and co-writing duo) at the top of their game.

For those of you who have been following Rebecca's musical journey over the last few years, the powerhouse sound of this album won't come as a surprise. It's blues-infused rock on steroids. It has the loudest sound of any of her releases, but it is a loud intensity that has sacrificed none of those subtle blues and soul motifs that have always been present in her work.

And once again I need to praise Steve Birkett's guitar playing, which is simply superlative. I've said it before, and I'll keep saying it: Steve is a Guitar God. Rebecca Downes fans know it. We're just waiting for the rest of the world to wake up to it as well. What is so cool about his work is that whether it's the gentle blues licks at the start of tracks like Waiting For The Morning or Tear Me Up for example, the powerhouse riffing of A Storm Is Coming, These Days, or Never Gonna Take You Back, or the guitar solos, that vary from deceptively simple to the incredibly intricate, he plays with that combination of emotion and skill that so many seek, yet so many fail to achieve.

This album also does something else. It reaffirms that at her roots, Rebecca Downes is modern blues-rock that demands attention. The blues motifs are present in every song to be sure, but all of the songs, even the ballad-starting Tear Me Up, have a raw rock energy that NEVER flags. In the sleeve notes, Rebecca talks about the album having come from a place of resilience and self preservation, but I'll go further than that. I hear frustration verging on righteous anger, a determination to not be knocked off course, to keep getting back up no matter how hard she is pushed to the ground. The blues motifs may therefore be more noticeable than on More Sinner or Space Between (which, given the last couple of years of Rebecca's life, explains why those motifs are re-examined on this album), but that rock strength is also more intensely projected.

Every song therefore is a call from the heart and a piece of the soul, with THAT huge voice from Rebecca and that dirty-Archangel guitar work from Steve, taking us to anthemic choruses that will get you chanting along. It is an album that has something for everyone, with clear respect for the blues and a modern stadium rock sound that air guitar metal heads will love.

But at the centre of it all is THAT voice. Full of heart, full of emotion, full of soul; it's angry and dripping with fury, and it demands that you sit up and listen.

It's Rebecca Downes.

Nuff said.

(You can buy/download the album from the usual stores but better yet, buy the CD direct from the Rebecca Downes website and put more pennies directly in her and Steve's pockets!)