Familiar faces join up in this new venture from guitarist Peter Scheithauer (Belladonna, Killing Machine) and singer Butcho Vukovic (Watcha, Showtime) in an album that a press release describes as a reminder of “Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Ozzy Osbourne.” Funny those are mentioned as the previously mentioned familiar faces that round out this group are bassist Bob Daisley, drummer Vinny Appice, and keyboardist Don Airey. Of course there are going to be resemblances to those great, legendary bands, but sometimes those resemblances get the best of Last Temptation.

There are some similarities that pop up with Sabbath, most notably the main riffs of “Never Say Goodbye” and “Faster And Faster”; the former sounding like a play on “Sweet Leaf” and the latter seems to be a sped up version of “Hole In The Sky”. While the guitars hold a more modern edge and punch, Butcho has a very interesting voice as he’s like a combination of Layne Staley, Lizzy Borden, and Ozzy. An echo effect helps give his voice an added layer and fullness to the songs at times it’s like I’m listening to Alice In Chains playing Sabbath and early Dio. Strange, but inviting. Airey’s contributions are mostly left for select tracks, including the best offering “Coming For You”, which has a Purple-ish driving rhythm and breaking mid-section to let the vocals shine. I could easily this as a strong cut on a newer Ozzy solo album. Closer “The Exit” also brings Airey’s talents to use and I just wish he was used more on the record as the sprinkling of keys onto the rhythm of the tracks would have helped immensely. Not a bad album by any stretch, but they need to find more of an identity.