Ken Tamplin, former singer/guitarist of Joshua and Shout, invited some friends, and the result is “Wake The Nations”. An eighteen tracks CD: value for money you’d say. When you’re into melodic reli-rock with lots of fast finger picking solos, and sing along choruses, this is.

Tamplin’s voice is very clear, but I get the impression he still can’t exploit it to the maximum, because at times it’s pretty monotone. As for the guitar work: this is a feast for the technique freaks. Beside Tamplin, there are a lot of big names: Doug Aldridge, Marty Friedman, and Richie Kotzen, to name a few. Some high quality (and high speed) snare racing.

Sometimes you get the feeling it’s a bit of a competition between all these helping hands. Luckily there is also some soulful guitar work in the bluesy “God In Heaven”, performed by the L.A. Guitar Wars’ Winner Scott Van Zen.

Sometimes with the mix of heavy riffs, melody, and a bit funky stuff, this album reminds of Extreme. Strange are some ‘modern’ computer-like intros. The production is okay, but the songs vary quite a lot in the quality of arrangements. This almost eighty minutes during ride to heaven might be too much for some people.