Being here for over a decade now, the German hardrockers with the nicely designed metallic logo, present their fifth album and I stand wondering how come a band that has released five albums and meanwhile not be an idol to millions of fans or not having a single hit single but also still be here? Can you recollect many such cases during the past decades of the rock/metal genre?

Shylock belong to the described as the “Third Wave” of the German hard rock. Formed in the conclusion of the past decade, they released a very good debut in 1999 and a wonderful second album (“Pyronized”) two years later. Those first attempts boast compositional maturity and their productions are as illustrated as needed to maintain an underground feeling, creating a bridge between the band and the fan. The following couple of albums, though, were not significant, without being out of target, so it’s quite interesting to see how this new album fares.

If we consider that a music composition is a fully layered plaque with interweaving layers, then, if we use just one word to describe “RockBuster” that would be “sliding”. The German feeling in Matthias Schenk’s voice remains a trademark and the guitar melodies have not abandoned their reign on the total song list. On the other hand, though, it is evident that the musicians tend to modernize some of the sonic or performing paths to their style and this can only be noted as controversial. There is a possibility that the average listener might raise a brow when listening to some of the parts (nothing extreme though). This may be due to the absence of one or two hits that would diverse the listener from looking for flaws, maybe the lack of a mid-tempo cut that would shake some hips in a rock-club, who knows…

Under the flag of Bonfire and Jaded Heart, just a little bit out of a sterilized Gotthard or/and Shakra and our German friends risk it out with an album that still has memorable its moments but also some flats. Masterfully performed and with an excellent production, the final conclusion is that it needs some sampling before buying. To be on the safe side…