Band:	Famous-X
Album:	Deal With The Devil
Style:	Power metal
Release date:	2008

01. Intro: Electrifired
02. To Be A Zero
03. Rock And Pose
04. Fury Road
05. U.H.T.
06. I Am Rock
07. A Perfect Fiasco
08. The Famous-X
09. Bullet Time
10. Pegasus Fantasy [bonus]

Those that heard Famous-X's self titled demo and got a taste of the almost solo work of Highlord guitarist Stefano "Sted" Droetto will be pleased to know there is some new material from the band to sink their teeth into. All three of the demo songs from last year's release are included on "Deal With The Devil", and while they were pretty good, they fit better now with some other tracks surrounding them. Again, Sted doesn't seem to be a fan of epic releases as this one clocks in at about 35 minutes. There's plenty of good but short albums out there though, so let's see what this twosome have come up with.

Once again, the music from Famous-X is Power Metal, but with a bit of a heavier touch. Those that weren't as fond of Highlord's keyboards/symphonies and softer Power Metal guitars shouldn't be deterred here. Sted has stated that he's had influence from bands such as Ozzy Osbourne, Alice Cooper and X-Japan and this appears to shine through on the first couple of tracks (excluding the intro). They sound along the lines of a more traditional metal. Unfortunately though, both the songs are probably the weak point of Deal With The Devil. They're a bit bland and contain uninspired lyrics. Thankfully though, all is not lost as the song "Fury Road" picks things up really quite well. I find this song to be the best of the new material. A better build-up and very nicely varied vocals help this mid-paced but very strong track. The shaky start can be forgotten as the rest of the album is rather?rocking! Some interesting and diverse tracks that will have your head nodding are present and together with those couple of rather good demo tracks make a fairly decent debut release for Famous-X.

Deal With The Devil isn't a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it contains mostly solid tracks and leaves you with a good feeling of enjoyment without blowing your mind. Those who caught the first demo from Famous-X and who were hungry for a full album should be pretty satisfied with the fill their aural senses will get from Deal With The Devil.