Ever since their appearance at MelodicRock IV, I have really been looking forward to this release. With the band finally coming full circle after all these years and reuniting with original vocalist Michael O’Mara, TALON finally has the line-up and ability to move this band forward and their latest release “Fourplay” is certainly a step in the right direction.

Hailing from California, TALON is just the epitome of that “West-Coast” sound and style. But what really sets this band apart is how they are able to perfectly blend all the sub-genres that come along with it combining the smoother, yet heavy in-your-face melodies of bands like Y & T, the musicianship and guitar-oriented rhythms of DOKKEN and the sleazy-rawness of artists like PRETTY BOY FLOYD or MÖTLEY CRÛE.

The energy-infused “Spun” opens the release in style as this aggressive rocker takes hold of your speakers with an impressive and memorable melody enhanced by some crisp, clean guitar leads and solos. Then with its more DOKKEN-ish style melody “Sin City Sister” is interesting as this more mid-tempo number begins to dip “Fourplay” into the “sleazier” side before reaching it fully with “Holly Would,” a track just BATHED in that old-school MÖTLEY CRÛE style falling somewhere around  the “Shout At The Devil”/ “Theater of Pain.” era.

“Set Me Free” is easily one of the most impressive tracks on the release. I really love the cleaner, more melodic aspects of this up-tempo rocker giving it a bit of a Y & T vibe that really delivers. But then as quickly as we came to one of the highlights on the release, we come to the ballad “Tonight” which is just “ok” at best. The haunting melody in the beginning builds to a cool bridge and eventually kicks-in nicely but I found the beginning half of the song a bit “whiny” and slows the tempo of the release down just a little too early for my taste.

Ahhh…. Let the sleaze flow as “It’s a Fine Line (Between Love and Lust)” revitalizes “Fourplay” with a really cool MÖTLEY CRÛE influence chorus that just SCREAMS Vince Neil. And I absolutely LOVE the next track… “Evil” which I heard them perform at MR4 way back when but is even more impressive now as a studio track having just a touch of a DIO “we Rock” feel and sporting one of my favorite guitar solos on the release.

“I Don’t Wanna Cry” works much better than “Tonight” as this acoustic-driven power-ballad has a cleaner, smoother, more-melodic sound that really works well with O’Mara’s vocal style. Taking a walk on the edgier-darker side, “Love Is Like A Drug To Me” has a heavier Y & T style-ish groove with a strong, melodic chorus and some
George Lynch influenced guitar solos and leads. This is followed by another one of my favs on the release, the up-beat anthem “Raise “Em High” highlighted by another rich, big chorus almost on the lines of a FIREHOUSE or HAREM SCAREM.

Bringing “Fourplay” to a close, “Hole in My Head” keeps the blood flowing being one of the heaviest tracks on the release and featuring some guitar leads that sometimes remind me a bit of a more laid-back IRON MAIDEN sound. And winning the award for longest song-title of the year (so far), “There Ain’t Nothin’ In The World Like a Rockin’ Band” wraps things up in style as this acoustic-driven rocker builds to a massive climax in a vein along the lines of the legendary TESLA.

There’s just so much to love about TALON’s “Fourplay.” The mixture of styles and influences just mix together so brilliantly and now solidified by the diverse vocals of Michael O’Mara makes this easily the band’s most prolific release to date. Makes you wonder what this band would be like had they had O’Mara around all this time… great, GREAT band and great, GREAT release.