Once in a while an album drops on my doormat that puzzles me. Victory’s Instinct is one of these unpleasant surprises. What I’m trying to say is, letting me write a review of a hard rock album is like letting a Steven Seagal fan write a review of Titanic. Nothing much good can come from that. Nevertheless I tried to do this as objective as possible.

First of all Instinct is Victory’s comeback album and above all, it’s made in their original line up. Singer Charlie Huhn is back on board to lend his bluesy vocals once more, trying to bring back the glory days of the eighties. Whether they actually succeeded I’ll let you decide.

Instinct is without a doubt an album that sounds genuine with powerful rock songs that remind strongly of the eighties. First and foremost Huhn’s vocals, they are as solid as a rock and the man gives color to an album that I would otherwise call pretty inspirationless. Most of the songs sound like you have heard them before and rarely does the band manage to break free from the standard pattern of classic hard rock.

Instinct starts pretty good with songs like “Running Scared” and “Plastic Hero” but things turn terribly corny with “Another Notch In The Bedpost”. Lyrically this track says it all; still the same old display of too high levels of testosterone. Things get worse though with “Victorias Secrets”; “If you need a lover, come on and raise your hand!” Uh yeah, whatever; not my type of thing but I doubt I belong to their target group.

My biggest problem with this CD is the level of repetition. Sure a certain amount adds to the power and identity of the songs, but you can also overdo it. Luckily Victory have kept the songs pretty compact, although some of the tracks still sound unnecessary tedious at times.

Instinct is a decent rock album that does not shine because of it’s originality but I doubt that this was ever the intention of these legendary German rockers. What you get for your money is a well produced CD with powerful songs and excellent vocals. A pretty safe buy for Victory fans.