On paper this album seems destined to fail. An aging metal band, a chaotic recent history, outside writers, and other elements usually don't result in a successful album. Surprisingly this is actually a good album with a lot of heft. The opening songs are very strong and even though the album loses cohesion near the end, the good outweighs the band. The lyrics are kind of strange, but we can chalk that up to the reputation of the band and the work of sci-fi writer John Shirley on lyrics. Another fun fact is that both living Rainbow drummers appear on the album.
As much as I enjoy this album, it's not really a comeback album, as they've only released one additional album since and that was back in 2001. Also, the death of longtime keyboard player Alan Lanier in 2013 probably did not help matters. Nevertheless Eric Bloom, Buck Dharma and company continue to troop on. Don't fear the reaper!
No comments:
Post a Comment