One spin of the album will convince you that these guys really mean what they say! Perhaps they should have called the album 'Ronseal' rather than 'Full Circle'; it does exactly what it says on the 'tin'!

The band were founded only this year; the line-up includes guitarists Greg Hart and Marty Wells, bassist Ray Edmunds and drummer Mick van Dell. It is Greg Hart and Ray Edmunds who provide the lead vocals; the latter has a strong vocal resemblance to the great Lynott, and it is no surprise that his previous gig was with tribute band'Live & Dangerous'. Greg Hart himself had, up until the start of this year, toured the length and breadth of the UK with fellow Lizzy tribute Limehouse Lizzy.

The album leads off with 'Star'; a slice of classic pop-metal that ticks all the boxes and with its catchy chorus, will have you partying like it's 1979 straight away. 'Mona Lisa' comes next, with those Lizzy-style twin guitars well to the fore, before the heavier 'Russian Roulette'. This track could be the cousin of Lizzy's 'Are you Ready'; bassist Ray Edmunds takes the lead vocal in true Philo style.

'Who Do You Run To' shows the band in lighter vein, Greg Hart takes the microphone for this radio-friendly* track, accompanied by plenty of harmony backing vocal.

The next track, 'Real World' has more harmony vocal, evocative of Sweet, and the song's lyric eschews life in the 21st century, fittingly for a band whose roots are firmly in the 70s.

'Girl' could have come straight from Thin Lizzy's 'Thunder and Lightning' album; they've captured that vibe perfectly. 'Love Her Let Her Go' is another song perfect for radio, the guitars are toned down and the harmony vocals prominent once again.

'Pushed To The Limit' is balls-out Metal of the style seldom heard these days, heavy guitars but still with a strong sense of melody. The Lizzy vibe returns with a vengeance on the last two tracks: 'Take The Pain' and 'Boom Boom'; once again these could have sat comfortably on anything Phil's guys were doing in the late 70s. Appropriately enough for a band so infused with the spirit of Thin Lizzy, a cover of 'Romeo & The Lonely Girl' appears as a bonus track.

The band intentionally set out to make an album that evokes the spirit of the late 1970s rock scene, in particular Thin Lizzy, and after giving the album a listen you are taken back to another age, when 'Tiswas' ruled Saturday mornings, when Arthur Daley was the nation's favourite dodgy dealer, and back to a hard rock age when men were real men, women were real women, and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri, were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri (if I may steal from the late Douglas Adams, whose 'Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' was also in vogue at that time!)

If the rock music of today, with its rigidly-defined boundaries and its seemingly never-ending desire to divide itself up into more and more sub-genres is leaving you cold, and you hanker for a simpler time when Billy Joel proclaimed 'It's Still Rock 'n' Roll to Me', give Hartless a listen.

It's honest guitar rock for those of us who simply want a good night out, not a lesson in how to appear cool!
You can hear a few of the band's songs for yourself at: www.myspace.com/hartlessband