Lion Music has chosen the right moment to put back on the market the first album of House of Shakira, originally released on a small German label in 1997. After the critical success of the last opus, "First Class", the small world of the AOR can only welcome such an initiative.
Already, the qualities of the band jumped to the ears: great musicality, accomplished compositions, very Journey-like choirs, well digested Bon Jovi/Jaded Heart influences... The singer Andreas Eklund, a kind of Jon Bon Jovi in a higher pitch, is very convincing, even if he pushes his lyrical climbs a little too much, at the limit of the accuracy. And then, there are the little extras: the oriental intro of 'Morning Over Morocco' and the African touches on 'Elephant Gun' and 'Canned Laughter'. refreshing! The ballads, very American, work well, especially the last one 'Everthing's Fine', enlightened by a very expressive cello.
Concerning the remastering, if it doesn't bring much, it allows to see many bonus tracks appearing and notably the curious mix of Hard Rock in 'New York New York' coming from Liza Minelli's repertoire. Without being a masterpiece in the discography of House Of Shakira, "Lint" deserves nevertheless that we linger on it and remains a good introduction to discover the universe of this nice group.