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Try to ignore that Canadians Kobra And The Lotus are known primarily for their fresh-faced frontwoman Kobra Paige – in a scene where bearded dudes dominate, heavy metal bands led by beautiful women will struggle to be seen as more than eye-candy fronting faceless musicians.

But behind the visuals, the girl sure can wail: her strong yet sweet bellow was likely raised on Halford and Dickinson, and her band’s playing skills are just as good.

On their second, self-titled release, KATL inject sounds from heavy metal’s golden years with a refreshing, youthful energy, blending NWOBHM with racing power-metal chords and sounds reminiscent of Dio and Judas Priest.

Nothing groundbreaking here, perhaps, but it’s still a hell of a lot of fun.

Hannah May Kilroy has been writing about music professionally for over a decade, covering everything from extreme metal to country. She was deputy editor at Prog magazine for over five years, and previously worked on the editorial teams at Terrorizer and Kerrang!. She currently works as the production editor for The Art Newspaper, and also writes for the Guardian, Classic Rock and Metal Hammer.