You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

After singer Doogie White left La Paz in 1988, stints alongside guitar gods Blackmore, Malmsteen and Schenker saw his profile rise to heights the Motherwell hopefuls could only have imagined.

But as that band’s original line-up reunites once more – for this follow-up to 2012’s Granite – it’s time the spotlight fell on their own axe hero, Chic McSherry. His best riffs and hooks evoke vintage Deep Purple (the Highway Star-meets-Burn opener Little Black Book Of Songs), Whitesnake (Old Habits Die Hard) and – best of all – Rainbow (the Stargazer-style cracker Devil In Disguise). Then on Lonely Are The Brave, a piano-led tale of heartbreak, he delivers an early contender for guitar solo of the year.

La Paz’s second coming is too late to change the world, but with all the above, White’s constantly superior vocals, plus guest slots for a brass section and the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band, it can certainly brighten it up.

Freelance contributor to Classic Rock and several of its offshoots since 2006. In the 1980s he began a 15-year spell working for Kerrang! intially as a cub reviewer and later as Geoff Barton’s deputy and then pouring precious metal into test tubes as editor of its Special Projects division. Has spent quality time with Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore – and also spent time in a maximum security prison alongside Love/Hate. Loves Rush, Aerosmith and beer. Will work for food.