Review TALAS ‘1985’

Artwork and title of this record show the direction of this journey. Talas take us back to the middle of the 80s. The question is, who are Talas? Well, the band consists of four well-known musicians who came together to express their musical passion.

However, Talas is not a new band as its roots are in the 70s. Billy Sheehan was a driving force of the band back in time, but the group disbanded in the mid-80s. Now Talas are back with full force.

The current line-up consists of bass legend Billy Sheehan, drummer Mark Miller, singer Phil Naro and newcomer Kire Najdovski on guitar. The four musicians make a lot of noise on their new record and not only because of the name you get the feeling that the band continues exactly where they left off in 1985. This makes the title of the record a logical choice and you can hear that Talas are having a lot of fun. All the tracks of ‘1985’ were written in the same year in the mid-80s, with one exception. The emotional ‘Black and Blue’, however, fits smoothly into the overall context and knows how to impress.

‘Inner Mounting Flame’ is the massive start to the album. Talas show that in all these years they have not lost their power. On the contrary. ‘I’llTake the Night’ continues where the opener ends and crashes with full vehemence out of the speakers. Energy and dynamics come to life on the album, which is also evident with the galloping ‘Don’t Try to Stop Me Tonight’.

‘1985’ does not contain a weak point and also the second half of the tracklist can easily keep up with the quality of the first songs. There is the thundering ‘Come When You Call’ with its great chorus and the slightly of Dio reminding ‘The Power to Break Away’ is a real ear pleaser.

‘Close to the Killer’ reveals the full beauty of well-crafted hard rock before Sheehan’s bass provides the grooving finale to an all-around great album with ‘7IHd H’.

Talas take us with ‘1985’ back to a time when hard rock and metal were heading for a first peak and Talas are among the forerunners of this success wave. Welcome back.