Band:	Shakra
Album:	Rising
Style:	Hard rock, Heavy metal
Release date:	August 08, 2003
A review by:	Malcolm

01. Now Or Never
02. Done Me Wrong
03. Too Good For Me
04. I Will Be There
05. Rising High
06. Little Stories
07. My Life - My World
08. Sign In The Sky
09. Run Away
10. Fight The Fire
11. Anything
12. Trapped

Have you ever heard of "Shakra"? Thought so.
They are very unknown in our Hard Rock world.
But on home ground and in Germany they have grown fast after 2001 years "Power Ride".
"Shakra" is from Switzerland and play a nice Melodic Hard Rock, exactly as their compatriots "Gotthard" and "Krokus". And almost everyone in the band listen to "AC/DC" which you can hear on some parts of the album, but the whole record is more Hard Rock than "AC/DC and less Boogie blues/rock.

"Rising" is their fourth release (Fifth with the Live album) and the first with the new singer Mark Fox. He replaced Pete Wiedmer that was forced to leave the band because of heath problems. But all of you, that against all odds, have heard a "Shakra" album, before "Rising", won't be disappointed at all on young Fox, he's doing a tremendous job behind the microphone. And wouldn't I have mention that Pete has left the band, you wouldn't have noticed it. Mark Fox is a copy of Pete Wiedmer.
The album itself is a real good one and it grows for each listening if you don't get stuck at once. But that happen to rarely these days.
"Shakra" have a wonderful swing in the songs, which I appreciate because it's hard to find really good Hard Rock releases today. The Lyric is great to, precisely as it should be on a Hard Rock release. And they will grow stuck in you mind and you will sing a long with Mr. Fox.
And the production is great, really good sound and it swing a lot around "Shakra".

If we shall pick some candy among the songs, the song "My Life - My World" draws a lot of attention. It's really hard not to sing "with" Fox when he screams out "This is my life, this is my world". And the track "Trapped" is really good to, it has a kind of "Rage" look-alike intro and the guitar solo in the middle is Viktor Smolski up and running.

The music is really simple, precisely as it should be on this kind of record, easy notes and easy lyrics, the perfect recipe for a Hard Rock album.
All of you partydude's out there, this album is going to appreciate of all your guests on your party.

If you are a fan of "AC/DC", "Gotthard", "Krokus" & "White Lion" check these guys up, you won't be disappointed.