Reviewed by Dave Williams

This is the album that AOR fans have been clamouring to hear. Ken Tamplin joins forces with Lanny Cordoia to record what has been promised to be the AOR album to beat all AOR albums. Unfortunately, this album fails in my opinion to even match other albums from the same musical direction. In order to highlight the admittedly stunning guitar playing of Lanny Cordoia (House Of Lords) the final mixdown lacks any real guts. You always get the feeling that there is an instrument missing. Another snag is rather colourless vocals. I must admit to being no fan of Ken Tamplin's vocal abilities, and this album sounds like his previous 'Shout' and 'Tamplin' offerings. 'Big Bang' may catch the ear of fans of melodic metal due to the fancy fretwork but I feel that all those people who have been eagerly awaiting the grandaddy of all AOR albums are going to be very disappointed.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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