fter The Verve broke up for the second time, it became apparent that it was for good (this time) when Richard Ashcroft actually released his debut solo album. Alone With Everybody was an overproduced pile of bunk that only extended the disappointing MOR rock that was Urban Hymns. While Ashcroft still showed glimpses of his genius on Alone, it was still sad realizing that things were never going to be like 1993 or 1995 again.

The Shining contains another chunk of Wigan’s finest, and unfortunately, it isn’t guitarist Nick McCabe that is involved. The two Simons—bassist Jones (a founding Verve member) and guitarist/keyboardist Tong (an Urban Hymns contributor), are the key selling point, especially when the band was set to tour North America before they even released a record in July this year (the tour was actually cancelled). Luckily for them, the sound of the band has not taken much of a detour, adding the missing link of The Verve that Ashcroft failed to provide with his solo music.

True Skies is not at all like A Storm In Heaven, yet it does flash moments of A Northern Soul’s raw, drugged out rock ‘n’ roll and Urban Hymns funkier side, making it clear that Jones and Tong did have more musical input into the past records than one would think. There are a lot of classic rock influences here—in the form of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Sly and the Family Stone and Jimi Hendrix. Before the band settled on a permanent lineup, the Stone Roses’ John Squire was jamming on guitar with them, an influence that still remains in the music today. Whether it was conscious or not, who knows.

Duncan Baxter is a 22 year old that looks like Kelso from That 70s Show, and has a voice that resembles both Robert Plant, and, oddly enough, at the right moment, Richard Ashcroft. He is the perfect singer for The Shining. He can howl near perfectly, carry a tune to a tee, and when necessary, perform ballads without any difficulty. He doesn’t have that immediate allure that a frontman like Liam Gallagher has, but “Danger” is better than any song Gallagher has sang in the past seven years. Dan McBean, lead guitarist, may not be Nick McCabe, but listen to “Quicksilver” and you hear one of the heaviest riffs this side of “Whole Lotta Love”. His performance throughout the album is one of the band’s stronger features, fluctuating constantly from aggressive to surprisingly gentle. Regretfully, Simon Jones never reaches the plateau he set with “Life’s An Ocean” on this record, but The Shining isn’t as bass heavy as his former outfit.

The Shining shouldn’t get too much flack for True Skies, because filling the shoes The Verve left is next to impossible. Ashcroft surely didn’t do it, and overall, this record is way more fulfilling than Mad Dick’s. At least these guys haven’t gone soft and forgotten how to rock.