Aesthesia return with their second full-length studio album.

Aesthesia return with their second full-length studio album and what a corker it is! The album features Hardcore Superstar guitarist Thomas Silver who cooks up some excellent riffs in the vein of Guns N' Roses circa 1987 while Nico Marlyn's vocals have a Klaus Meine thing going on. It's an effective combo. 

But it's obvious this album is all about the riffs and the opening track 'Greed Machine' opens up the gates for some memorable -- if hardly innovative -- songs in a very old school fashion. The very naughty 'Under 16' is one of 'Shattered Idols' heaviest tunes and has some sturdy drumming courtesy of Mike Marcia. The rest of the band by the way is made up of Julien Gatter and Jetblack on guitars and Johnny Lips on bass as well as additional musicians. There's less of a pompous, self-absorbed attitude from this band than what was apparent in the eighties American rock scene and there's a fair dosage of punk throughout the album especially prominent on 'Tales Of Underground.'

The album hits an unfortunate slow spot with "Hometown' and 'Gone.' However, another toe-tapping track is the album's penultimate song 'Rattlesnake Preacher,' which has a Lemmy-style bass rippling through it. The album ends with the above average ballad 'Daydream' and while 'Shattered Idols' is by no means one of the best rock releases of the year the mix of classic rock, sleaze and punk is a likeable brew.

This French band has a lot going for it, and this particular reviewer is keen to hear some more music from them.

Neil Daniels