Snakecharmer - Second Skin (2017) {Japanese Edition}

British hard rock supergroup Snakecharmer was formed in 2013 by former members of Whitesnake, Wishbone Ash, and Thunder, among others. Guitar wiz Micky Moody had enjoyed a long and storied career in blues-rock dating all the way back to his work with Tramline in the '60s. After his acrimonious departure from Whitesnake in 1983, he formed the Snakes and the Company of Snakes in a bid to re-create the original blues-rock sound of Whitesnake before they became a hair metal band. After a chance meeting with his old Whitesnake bandmate, bassist Neil Murray, the pair decided to make some music for old times' sake and set about putting a band together. The resulting lineup was a veritable who's-who of classic hard rock: vocalist Chris Ousey (Heartland), guitarist Laurie Wisefield (Wishbone Ash), drummer Harry James (Thunder), and keyboardist Adam Wakeman (Ozzy Osbourne). Given the band's pedigree, it was inevitable that the music would sound like good-time, classic melodic hard rock with a blues edge, earnest, heartfelt, and big on tunes. Reminiscent of all the members' earlier work, it nevertheless was not a slavish copy and stood on its own. Friends encouraged them to record an album, and their eponymous debut was released in 2013 by Italian label Frontiers. The response from fans and critics alike was rapturous, and the band toured to wide acclaim. In 2015, Moody left the band, replaced by young Irish-born virtuoso Simon McBride. Snakecharmer's sophomore album, Second Skin, arrived in 2017.