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Has a hard rock album ever been conceived in such unusual circumstances, or indeed awaited with such baited breath as Worlds Collide?

After a bust-up with their record label caused Unruly Child’s original line-up to fragment during the early 1990s, leaving a self-titled debut that’s still revered as a genre benchmark, gender issues caused vocalist Mark Free to take on a new life as a woman. Sixteen years later, Unruly Child and Marcie Michelle Free are back, defying the odds to sound just like they always did.

Despite the sex change, Free’s voice remains strong and decidedly masculine, the consummate mouthpiece for a truly fabulous set of songs that mix cunning guitar riffs, soothing keys and soaring hook-lines, picking right up where the debut album and its upward momentum were so unceremoniously halted.

This is the melodic album of 2010, and no mistake.

Dave Ling was a co-founder of Classic Rock magazine. His words have appeared in a variety of music publications, including RAW, Kerrang!, Metal Hammer, Prog, Rock Candy, Fireworks and Sounds. Dave’s life was shaped in 1974 through the purchase of a copy of Sweet’s album ‘Sweet Fanny Adams’, along with early gig experiences from Status Quo, Rush, Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Yes and Queen. As a lifelong season ticket holder of Crystal Palace FC, he is completely incapable of uttering the word ‘Br***ton’.