Sting In The Tale rocks harder than anything John's done in years, though not quite as 'metal' as the Zar project from 13 years ago, but certainly with a heavier drum sound, some cool heavy guitar work and a strong bunch of memorable tunes. Early favorites are "Written On The Wall" & "Angels They Cry" [w/ nice Heep-like harmonies] - 2 of the heaviest songs here and both penned by JLB's Canadian guitarist Erol Sora.  Bassist Steve Dunning contributes 4 good tracks here - "Take You High" [the lead off rock tune here], as well as the bluesier "King Con", the slightly funkier "Firing Line" [which reminds me of latter day Glenn Hughes] and the straight ahead rock of "Slamming It Down" [a great drinking anthem!].  And the man himself contributes 5 solid tunes here with such rockers as "Give It Up" [co-written w/ keyboardist Leon Lawson] and "Reach Out" [featuring Cleveland's own Dave White on guitar], as well as slightly lighter rock gems "Lately", "Tracks Of Time" [a very catchy upbeat song, and best choice for a single here IMO], and the ballad ''I'll Be Here". Lastly [and  fitting perfectly] is the classic blues rock tune "Dog House" [penned by drummer Benjy Reid w/ Robert Taylor], complete with harmonica [courtesy of Tony Cavaye] and perhaps the best Lawton performance here.