ISSA - "RUN WITH THE PACK"

RATING: RRRr

LABEL: FRONTIERS

REVEW BY: ALAN HOLLOWAY

It's hard to believe that Issa released her first albumway back in 2010, pushed as the new femme fatale of the melodic rock world, with sexy photo shoots taking prominence over the music. Of course, it helped that the music was solid as you like, and it's been great to see her contiunue to release high quality albums. 'Run With The Pack' is album number five, and although not as good as 2015s 'Crossfire' it still keeps Issa's name at the higher end of any connoisseurs' lists.

As usual, Issa's vocal skills are prominent from the beginning as she breathes life into every song here, aided on 'Sacrifice Me' by Deen Castronovo. the two main differences from 'Crossfire' are the songwriters and the main guitarist. Gone are James and Tom Martin (of VEGA fame) as songwriters and band members, and in comes a smorgasbord of new writers, including Bob Mitchell, Glenn Ballard and the ever present Alessandro Del Vecchio. The guitars have been handed to Simon Mularoni, and to be fair his widdling is a constant standout throughout the album. The songs themselves are all prefectly acceptable, but if I'm honest they just aren't as exciting as the ones on 'Crossfire'. That said, none of them could be described as poor in any way, it's just that I'm nodding my head and tapping my feet rather than punching the air. Unusually for me my favourite track is a slow(ish) one, 'The Sound Of Yesterday', where Issa gets to show real passion and strength. She's one of those vocalists who is a ballad writer's dream, and soars when allowed to get her teeth into a tune.

'Run With The Pack' slots nicely into Issa's repertoire, but treads water rather than breaking new ground. It's well produced (by Del Vecchio) and will certainly be welcomed by fans, but the feeling that there's something missing, however small, still haunts me every time I listen to it. If you like fun melodic rock with great vocals then you really can't go wrong here, so give Issa a try if you haven't already.

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