Talon United States

"The band's name and the cover of this their third release might suggest something heavy along the lines of US power metal or perhaps even power-thrash, but that is not what you get on this album. Talon's "III" offers tasty hard rock with elements of melodic metal. While you have chucking distorted rhythm guitars and, at times, heavy metallic riffage, there is focus on melody and even the heavier tracks on the album, like the amazing 'Everytime', the incredible Eastern-tinged 'Take You All The Way' (which features Jeff Scott Soto on guest lead vocals) and the slightly power-metal informed 'Walk Away', come with big melodic and catchy AOR-oriented choruses. Much of the riffage is inherently uplifting and lends itself well to big melodies (there are a lot of riffs on this release, actually, that are similar to Badge's 'Silver Woman', which is definitely not a bad thing). There are of course also a couple of ballads on the album, of which 'Maybe One Day' is probably the biggest sounding one, while 'Brothers' is a more cheesy power ballad which nevertheless deals with a serious issue lyrically. On the whole, Talon's "III" is a catchy and melodic hard rock release with lots of tasty guitar licks and big choruses, and fans of melodic metal, hard rock and AOR should definitely give it a listen. (review originally posted at metalmusicarchives.com)"