Hey, how about some Rob Rock?? You remember him. Impellitteri, M.A.R.S.-Project Driver, Axel Rudi Pell, and Driver from 1990 with Roy Z?? He's back and bigger than ever. Rob has created another chapter in his career with a slew of musicians that are superb. Roy Z and Greg Analla from Tribe of Gypsies and Jake E. Lee to name a few. Now that you have a feel for the caliber of this album, let's talk about it.
The album starts off with 'In the beginning', an intro to the heavy track 'The sun will rise again'. The music has a lot of punch to it and Rob has never sounded better. Roy Z plays guitar on the album as well as co-writing and producing. 'One way out' follows in the same tempo showing the consistency of the album. 'Judgement Day' is brilliant. Paints a picture with sound. Definitely one of my favorites. This tune gets into a serious rock session. 'Streets of Madness' reminds me a lot of Iron Maiden. Has that prominent bass sound as well as Maiden's song structure. How about an ABBA cover?? Rob gives us 'Eagle'. It is done very well. 'All I Need' gives us that familiar guitar sound that has been missing for a long time. Kind of reminds me of early Dio. 'Media Machine' follows in the same vein. 'In the Night' slows the tempo a bit but still retains the crunch. Another favorite. 'Never too late' is an adrenalin booster and will get the blood flowing if for some crazy reason it hasn't started yet. 'Forever' closes the album out and showcases Rob's vocal power. This album is great from start to finish. Definitely one of the stronger releases of the year.
I was very pleased with this effort. Rob is definitely onto something special here. It was nice to see Roy Z involved as well. Most of you know how I feel about Roy Z. He is an incredibe asset to any project. take Rob and Roy Z together and you have one of the finest combination songwriting duo's in rock music today. Don't miss this one, it's top notch!
Hey, there is a new guy on the block. A guitar virtuoso. Rolf Munkes. We finally have something to stick in our decks from this great musician. Rolf offers us 14 tracks of great songwriting. If you'll remember, I did a spotlight on Rolf a while back before he had released a full length album. I was pretty excited to get something from him. Let's see how it stands up.
The opener 'You and I' reminds m a bit of something that you would find on a Dave Sharman disc. Has a great vibe to it. You also get a Police cover in 'Message in a Bottle'. They did a good job on this. Stayed pretty true to the original. 'Legatomizer' shows Rolf strutting his stuff in an instrumental tune. 'The man who learned to fly' changes gears a bit and offers us some acoustic music. The song flows smoothly. 'Mystic Overture' is a short but powerful track that demonstrates the control Rolf has in his playing. Some of you will remember 'That's New' from MP3.com. Rolf released a few songs some time back. This was one of them and is now available on the album as is 'Tap that thing', and 'Confuse them all'. 'Tunnel Strut' demonstrates more of Rolf's guitar technique. Not very long, but definitely gets the point across. 'Starsailor' takes us back to the tempo of the opener. 'Where do we go from here' continues the consistency so far. You gotta check out 'Drumatic' from Anders Johansson on this album. Kinda like his 'Eruption' on the drums. Very cool. 'Lord of Lies' and 'Up and Down' close the album out in a slower tempo, but in very fine fashion. This is a fun album to listen to.
Rolf is an amazing guitarist as well as a very nice guy. He brings his own thing to the table and comes across with very good songwriting ability. The album is available through Lion Music and is definitely worth picking up, especially if you like listening to very creative guitar work.
