You can trust Louder
Twenty-four years ago, Zodiac Mindwarp unleashed Wild Child, a debut EP so thunderously sleazy, priapic and dumb that it practically turned its creator into a rock‘n’roll legend overnight.
He followed it with the equally reprehensible High Priest Of Love mini-album, stormed the charts with Prime Mover, which remains one of the greatest rock anthems of the last 25 years, and penned Feed My Frankenstein for Alice Cooper.
Unfortunately, nothing the insane old drug-repository has done since has come close to matching those heady first few thrills. We Are Volsung is no different, despite being a spirited attempt to emulate past glories.
At his lascivious, whisky-sodden best, Zodiac still has menace and muscle in plentiful supply, and drooling riff-ups like Don’t Touch My Guitar and Key To Your Heart have undeniably massive hooks, but this is more endearingly daft than truly dangerous.

Dom Lawson has been writing for Metal Hammer and Prog for over 14 years and is extremely fond of heavy metal, progressive rock, coffee and snooker. He also contributes to The Guardian, Classic Rock, Bravewords and Blabbermouth and has previously written for Kerrang! magazine in the mid-2000s.