Disclaimer before we start this review is that I managed the band at the time this album came out. I haven’t played it in a long time and it brings back a lot of good memories, and a lot of bad ones as well.
This was the only album to feature Richie Wicks on vocals, who I asked to join the band after the departure of Tony Liddell. A lot of the songs are in a direction that the Tygers never went originally, and dare I say, a more progressive vibe is present. Cybernation, The Spirit Never Dies, and Deja Vu are all songs the Tygers of old would never have attempted. Big production numbers with killer arrangements. Highspeed Highway Superman (Two Wheeled Version) is the best song the band have ever done. A great Deano riff and idea, with a great groove, and superb vocal and lyric from Richie. There are of course more standard style rockers that Tygers fans will be more familiar with, like opener Bad Bad Kitty a fun old school four to the floor rocker, Running Man with its Thin Lizzy style twin guitars, and Three In A Bed a VH inspired uptempo rocker. The album closes out with the most ambitious song the band have ever written: Master Of Illusion. Richie’s imagination and vision just ran with this one lyrically and vocally, and the riff is very simple but sounds huge. However, my favourite track is The Spirit Never Dies; a monster of a tune that’s starts slow, and builds, and builds with a superb Richie vocal and a nice solo from Dean. This is the best thing the band have ever done as they stretched themselves almost beyond what they were capable of.
I could write a book about this period but it’s something I put to bed a long time ago.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
