Black Star Riders are a brand new band, but one respectful of the past. Together withbandmates Marco Mendoza and Damon Johnson, Scott Gorham and Ricky Warwick have of course toured in various configurations of Thin Lizzy in recent years. But while Gorham – the late Phil Lynott’s longest serving guitar foil – and original Lizzy drummer Brian Downey had every right to lead such a charge, even they felt somewhat conflicted when talked turned to the recording of a new Thin Lizzy album.

‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, the Black Star Riders’ debut, was recorded in Los Angeles with producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith) at the helm. Listening to the final album, it’s clear that Black Star Riders are the kind of hard rock band that won’t be constrained or typecast. The magnificent guitar riffs on ‘Hey Judas’ really swing,‘Someday Salvation’ is a thing of Lizzy-channelling-Van-Morrison splendour, ‘Before The War’ packs a Clash-like urgency, and Dubliner Patrick D’Arcy’s Irish whistles,Uilleann pipes and bodhran bring a magical Celtic lilt to ‘Kingdom Of The Lost’, a song that seems mindful of Thin Lizzy’s 1979 classic ‘Black Rose: A Rock Legend’. Though Northern Ireland’s Ricky Warwick can now be his own man, singing his own lyrics again, he’s obviously in touch with the renegades, wild romantics, saints, and sinners that populate Phil Lynott’s finest songs.

Of his Black Star Riders guitar foil Damon Johnson, meanwhile, Gorham has this to say: “I don’t want to get in trouble, but I think my partnership with Damon is one of the best I’ve had. We both do our share of heavy-lifting, but Damon is a real ball of energy and that gets me fired-up, too.”

Together with Warwick, Johnson was also a key writer on ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’, with countless snatched moments in hotel rooms and in the tour bus lounge enabling the pair to gel as a formidable new songwriting force. The swaggering ‘Bound For Glory’,Black Star Riders’ debut single, marries its twin guitar harmonies to a tale of persistence against the odds. Black Star Riders have made a debut album to be proud of, and Scott Gorham for one thinks the late, great Phil Lynott would be down with the programme. “Phil would dig it”, says the guitarist. “In fact, I think he’d like to be in the band.”

Available as special edition digibook CD / DVD, standard CD, gatefold double vinyl(including poster), and digital download.