I caught this band live in London a while back, and I have to say what they produce on record no way matches the adrenaline rush you get form their live set, especially the raw guitar sound. I was in all honesty expecting more of the same as previous albums on this third effort so I surprised myself when I thought it needed a little more distortion from the guitars, but this is the bands style, like it or lump it, who cares, it really does not matter because ‘Flying Dutchmen’ has some great songs that harness their hard edged rock/metal style that will fit and strike a chord with lovers of pre-NWOBHM and many other genuine rock classic releases.

‘Frivolous Franny’ is about innocence and its converse trait of toughness of this world. The bands hard rock edge is upbeat and little bits of odd ball influences appear, such as the finger picked riffs. ‘Never Be Clever’ is about Herman Brood who was a Dutch recording artist, it describes his drug addiction and pays homage to his life via a typical Vanderbuyst style of hard rock n roll. Musically, Vanderbuyst are assisted by The Devil’s Blood guitarist Selim Lemouchi on a couple of tracks and further musical endeavours encourage you to cut from the same cloth as the band do as their songs are of an infectious musical nature. In truth I am pleased that it is not all sex drugs and rock n roll, there are many subject matters in the songs that are real and not the cliché style in this genre as you may come to expect. One thing that strikes me about this record is the genuine virtuosity of the guitar solos, born out of rock n roll in general but every now and again some metal and some other genres rear their influence in the recordings bringing a vintage feel to the table, this will certainly appeal to Uli Jon Roth era-Scorpions fans.

On the whole, this is a good toe tapping experience; the band has got over the stereotypical stigma of “the difficult third album” but I do in all honesty still prefer their previous releases that had a touch more angst about them. ‘Flying Dutchmen’ is simple but effective, it is hard rock that grows upon you with each spin of the disc and that bodes well for album longevity.

(7/10 Paul Maddison)

http://www.vanderbuyst.com