Last years ”Raven Ride” from German Hard Rock/Heavy Rock band Empire was a solid piece

of work and now they are back with their 4th album entitled “Chasing Shadows”. The line up around of brainchild Rolf Munkes has changed to maybe their strongest ever; Rolf Munkes on guitars, Doogie White (Cornerstone, Yngwie Malmsteen) vocals, Neil Murray (Ex Whitesnake) on bass and Mike Terrana (Rage) on drums.

“Chasing Shadows” are in my humble opinion a tad better than last years “Raven Ride” but it needs a few spins to grow. However, there are a few songs that hits you instantly, namely the first track and title-track “Chasing Shadows”, the fantastic “The Alter” and ”Tahigwan Nights”. The rest of the songs need some time to get under your skin. But they will slowly but surely. The songs are peppered with tasty leads form guitarist Rolf Munkes... damn... he knows how to write a catchy guitar solo.

Then we have the vocals... and I must admit that I’m not a huge fan of former member Tony Martin’s voice but I feel the opposite way about new singer Doogie White’s voice. I really like the way he sings and I think that he’s the right choice for Empire and their music.

The production is great... crystal clear and powerful so if you’re into bands like; 80’s Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Rainbow or Cornerstone then you definitely need this album too.