After listening to this album several times my ears were just starving for more like a dog after eating a bacon treat. I reflected back on my concert review of Taking Dawn from last year when they opened for DragonForce and Sonata Arctica in New York City and I had mentioned that they are very on point musically and can see them growing into something huge. Much like I noticed with label mates Trivium early on in their career. Well the time has come and it is TIME TO BURN as the Las Vegas, Nevada, metallers have unleashed their debut LP and it is without a doubt a monster!

The album opens up with the title track (and first single) with singer Chris Babbitt going straight for the throat with F**k bombs being plentiful and a chorus seeing the band shout "Halle-fuckin-lujah!". This is traditional Metal in the Andrew W.K. vein a bit with a party like vibe. ‘Time To Burn’ signifies that Taking Dawn has arrived, this is their time and they are gonna rock the hell out of you. The video for this song is excellent featuring a man dressed like Kanye West busting into the middle of their video shoot (which features rock n roll nuns, a heavy metal grandma, chicks kissing and all that good stuff). Kanye tells the band that he knows they are shooting their video and that’s great but Beyonce is filming hers down the street and it is going to be the best video ever. In return Taking Dawn strikes their power chords and send Kanye look alike flying into a couch across the room, funny stuff!

‘Like A Revolution’ opens up with killer guitar work calling upon the New Wave of British Heavy Metal that owned the 80’s. Think Angel Witch meets Iron Maiden "Killers" era meets Def Leppard "High N’ Dry" with the guitars and arrangements…now that’s Metal! ‘Take Me Away’ follows and is easily my favorite song on the album and one that if rock radio has any brains could take over mainstream radio. The way this song opens up is so good it’s just indescribable; with a strong chorus present it develops into a killer gang vocal harmony towards the end, "Nah nah nah nah, nah nahhhhh" (reminds me of classic Damn Yankees). These first three tracks are one of the best one, two, three punches I have heard on a Metal album and the best part is they do not slow down at all but keep on truckin. Closing out the album is Fleetwood Mac’s "The Chain" which is just beyond impressive and one of the coolest covers I have ever heard of a non Metal song.

"Time To Burn" is probably the coolest and most exciting debut I have heard from a band since hearing Skid Row’s debut many years back. Much like Skid Row these guys capture that fun, heavy, (Dr.) feel good energy from the 80’s but do so with a raw, harder edge musically and appearance wise, leaving the hair spray behind (well okay, ‘Endlessly’ is a bit bubble gum but still awesome). However, they still incorporate the harmonies that fans of the hair-era ate up like the Mutt Lange-inspired harmonies from Def Leppard’s heyday. The music speaks for itself, just straight up hard rockin Metal with a fist in the air. Each song gives off the type of vibe and energy that can fill an arena and have a captivated audience standing tall. Fans of Skid Row, W.A.S.P., Cinderella, early Bon Jovi and early Motley Crue (basically heavy material with mainstream appeal) are sure to love this. Hopefully today’s generation of rock and metal fans being exposed to Taking Dawn can use them as a gateway into what were the glory days of Heavy Metal.

I very rarely ever give out a perfect 10 for an album but this one deserves it hands down, an 11 actually in my book!