Metal Underground.com

Fans of the basically now defunct Skid Row and Bon Jovi, take heart. The new wave of stadium styled hard rock and power ballads has arrived, thanks to Spain’s Hard Spirit. With their first full release, "Walk the Wild," these guys are all over the 'net, and are garnering huge response from fans of classic hard rock.

If the first step to success is emulating your favorite artists, Hard Spirit is well on its way. These songs sound like they came straight off the latest Bon Jovi release, with a guest appearance from Slash. With mid-range, grungy instrumentals, occasional flashy shreds, and melodic vocals, "Walk The Wild" is a good display of radio-friendly metal and hard rock.

The album opens with "Rock Is Life," which showcases lots of gang vocals and showy riffs, before dipping down to a not so great "Daydream On The Ground." This track has a good melody, but there are some rough tempo changes that make it hard to get through. Fortunately, the band redeems itself with the next track, "Every Street Of Sorrow," a good power ballad that vies with "Winter Days" for the title of best song. Just like Bon Jovi, it seems that Hard Spirit excels at the ballad, blending melancholy lyrics with wailing guitars and grinding bass. The best example of this is the too brief "Dreaming," which is absolutely beautiful, but at less than two minutes, feels unfinished.

The album isn’t entirely a bed of roses though, (forgive the pun), as at times the vocals seem rushed. There are also brief moments where the lead vocalist's Spanish accent shines through, and makes it difficult to interpret the lyrics without having them in front of you. And the added sound effects of what may be an airport in the intro of "Waiting On The Storm" are unnecessary and distracting. If you can make it through the intro, though, the rest of the tune is reminiscent of the classic "Radar Love."

Misleading though it can be, most of us usually find ourselves gauging an album by its cover. While the front cover for "Walk The Wild" is unimpressive – a lone rocker with his guitar strapped to him headed down an empty highway – the back cover got my attention.

My first reaction when I saw the group photo of the band was "they’re so white!" And while at the time it may have seemed a totally irrelevant observation, after hearing "Slave Of Twilights," their translucent skin got me thinking that these guys could all land roles in the next Twilight movie. With lines like "I drank your blood – I’ll burn to ashes, I’ll burn to dust," sometimes you can’t help but have these images come to mind. Since the goth favorites My Chemical Romance refuse to be a part of the next Twilight soundtrack, "Slave Of Twilights" might just be Hard Spirit's big chance.

For the rest of the world who isn't obsessed with Team Edward and Team Jacob, there's still plenty to like about Hard Spirit. If you’re in the mood for Bon Jovi styled classic hard rock, Hard Spirit may be the answer.