It's a career full-circle for guitarist Vinny Burns who returns to the melodic rock of his early days in Ten, as Three Lions makes their debut album available. Formed by Burns with fellow Ten alumni Greg Morgan and newcomer bassist/vocalist Nigel Bailey, the trio is set to make a mark.
Produced and assisted musically by Alessandro Del Vecchio, the album has a tight, crisp feel that is simply British melodic rock through and through. Vocalist Bailey is similar to Ten's Gary Hughes in that he doesn't have a big vocal range, but has a warm, likable tone that suits the style and the delivery here.
It's great to hear Vinny wailing again and the trio plays as if they have been a band unit for several years already. At 13 tracks and nearly an hour in length, it's a very long album that could have used a little editing, with a 2 or 3 fillers in play, but there's some superb melodic rock on offer too.
Highlights for the album are the obvious opener Trouble In A Red Dress; the organ driven anthem Just A Man; and the uptempo AOR of Holy Water.
There is also a few classy ballads - Winter Sun is a great starter and Two Hearts Beat As One is classic British AOR; Don't Let Me Fall and Made For One Another are also very good – the only downfall is the tracks come in a mid-album pace vacuum.
Magdalene finally picks up the tempo again and delivers another strong melodic rock tune. And Hellfire Highway is a fast rocker that could have been used a few tracks earlier.
Sicilian Kiss is a guitar instrumental to close the album with Vinny in full flight.
I'm not that sold on the fast moving Twisted Soul and Kathmandu is one too many mid-tempo tracks and I think the second half of the album suffers from too many slower paced songs.
