A further inclusion in the list of legends of melodic hard rock succumbing to the pleads for their return, Sweden's Talisman are the latest to be offered flowers, choccies and contract papers from the Now & Then men. One can't say that they've been lying asleep on their garden benches for the whole of their inactive duration, either. Well, most of them, haven't.

Marcel Jacob has been well occupied with Great King Rat's brief come-back and the Humanimal project amongst things, whilst Jeff Scott Soto has been busy with Takara, Eyes, Human Clay, Humanimal also, and more recently his solo shenanigans including his worshipped Gods 2002 slot.

Pontus Norgren who appeared in the band's last incarnation before their split has recorded a well-received solo album as well as his own involvement in GTR and .. wait for it… Humanimal, but he's missed the bus back this time. His predecessor Frederik Åkesson caught it, though, and rejoining Jacob and Soto as does Drummer Jamie Borger, we'll see if they've learnt anything whilst away. I'll cut to the point and say yes they have.

While this material resembles that of the latter days of their primal era, I won't just sit here and think of it as 'Humanimal Pt 3' because it is not. It is another album, but does pick up some of those pieces. Concentrating heavily on soul-driven melodies again, through the likes of 'Skin On Skin', 'In Make Believe', 'Sorry', 'Trapped' and 'Lost In The Wasteland', Soto cuts his own work out for him, which shouldn't require too big a pair of scissors for this chap, as at the same time, shrill guitar work from Åkesson makes the words 'Yoo-hoo, I'm ba-ack' quite applicable on his quarter, too.

'Outta My Way' is a fast n' furious number of the sort heard on the first album but even faster than that - quite similar to Mr Big's 'Colorado Bulldog' in some respects and with Jacob's bass on particularly riveting form. A new direction is travelled in the vehicle of 'Wherever, Whenever, Whatever', the melodies coming across purely grunge-oriented but with mid-paced hard rock rhythms supporting the structure, opened up by an again superb, if familiar sounding lead-off from Marcel. 'M.O.M' is the bread winner of the bunch on today's occasion, a live essential that'll make the album worth the price alone to most fans.