Vandenbergs moonkings – Rugged and unplugged

Vandenberg’s Moonkings are back with a new album – Rugged and unplugged. As the title hints, it’s an acoustic album – mainly just Adrian Vandenberg playing acoustic guitar and Jan Hoving on vocals.

The first thing to note is the length of the album – a disappointing 28 minutes. That’s plenty long enough when it’s full on metal like Slayer’s “Reign in blood”, but with an album like this it just feels far too short.

The songs on the album are mainly from Vandenberg’s Moonkings with one being a new song. There’s also a Vandenberg song and a Whitesnake one. Sadly while Jan Hoving is a good singer, the inclusion of the Whitesnake song just reminds you that he’s no David Coverdale, and from that point on, all you can think is how much better the album would have been with David Coverdale on vocals.

While Adrian Vandenberg and Jan Hoving both do a good job, the simple fact is that this album just isnt that exciting – there’s nothing here that makes me think “I must listen to that again”. It’s good enough that if it was playing I wouldnt switch it off, but coversely it’s not appealing enough that I’d have chosen to play it in the first place.

If you’re a fan of acoustic rock then this is well worth a listen – otherwise, avoid.

“Rugged and unplugged” will be released on 2nd November 2018

Track listing:

1. What doesn’t kill you
2. Sailing ships
3. Out of reach
4. One step behind
5. Burning heart
6. Walk away
7. Breathing
8. Sundown