Conventional – so what! Bay Area Power Metal veterans RUFFIANS have returned with new material – finally! They’re obviously not trying to re-invent the steel but they play their music with passion and I love the singer’s voice: not too high but powerfully rough. Typical powerful 80s US Metal. Some of the songs seem a little slow at times and several "unplugged" moments might seem a little much whereas the excellent sound really keeps me fixed to "Desert Of Tears". It’s really a record made to be played loud. RUFFIANS made a CD (I’d love to have this one on vinyl, by the way) for old farts. And young Metalheads who’d love to have been born one or two decades earlier. Just turn up the volume, have a beer (or two) with a couple of friends and raise your fist to the slow hymn ‘I Will Fly’, scream along the vocals of the title track and bang your head to ‘I Believe’. I don’t need much more for happiness. The video is a nice bonus with a rather weak sound combining video footage of several live performances of ‘Do Or Die’, for example at the Keep It True festival in Germany. I’m sure some of the old RUFFIANS fans might say this one can’t compete with the classics but that’s what they always say. I don’t care cause I like it and so does my air guitar! www.osmrecords.net.