ATKINS/MAY PROJECT – Serpent’s Kiss

December 24th, 2011 by GRTR! HQ

This album is the result of a collaboration between original Judas Priest vocalist Al Atkins and noted guitarist Paul May who has featured on around 50 albums to date mostly within the realms of Christian rock.

The album opens with ‘The Shallowing’ which is a solid chunk of heavy metal which harks back to the NWOBHM days and has obvious leanings to early Priest which should come as no real surprise. This sets the tone well for the rest of the album.

The guitar work of Paul May is excellent throughout with solid riffing and blistering lead work which wouldn ‘t be out of place on a Priest or Iron Maiden album. The vocals of Al Atkins though are a bit of an acquired taste which I wasn’t too struck with, but each to their own.

Track of the album for me is ‘Fight’ which is a real rocker with May playing up a storm and producing a big, hooky chorus, an impressive number. The biggest travesty though is the cover version of the Kiss classic ‘Cold Gin’ which has very few redeeming features and is certainly not a track that I will be rushing to sample again.

Overall this album is a good ‘un with good song writing and playing on all tracks, but I found it hard to get passed Al’s vocals which personally weren’t for me. However, if you have a love of British metal circa 1980, you could do worse than give this a try.

***
Review by David Wilson

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