Shaw Davis & The Black Ties - Red Sun Rebellion (Album Review)

Florida based guitar slinger Shaw Davis and his band the Black Ties return with their third album Red Sun Rebellion.  The band revs up another set of progressive blues-tinged hard rock. The band continues to write and record at a level that is hard to come by in today's computer music world. The recording itself is well produced and will blitz your headphones. 

"Higher" is a grungy rocker that would fit perfectly on mainstream rock radio. Davis straddles the line between modern hard rock and blues and does so with a nod to the 90's. "Promised Land" is another power rocker that would be a nice radio follow up to "Higher". The guitar solos are all little mini acid trips. Davis is a great player who has no problem alternating between dirty hard rock and clean riffs like on "If I Stay This Way". The songwriting is original and top notch. The work of Jimi Hendrix and Robin Trower are certainly touchpoints for Shaw but there is no question that he makes his own way and has created a guitar sound all his own. 

"Black Flagged" could be titled "Black Pilled" as Davis writes about strife and discontent. Lots of tasty fills and solos on this burner. Bassist Patrick Stevenson shines brightly on "Black Flagged". Adding that 90's flair is drummer Bobby Van Stone who crushes the kit from beginning to end. 

The band lightens up for the pop-blues-rocker "Straight Ahead". A tad more soul oriented, the track is radio ready for the right program director. "Rock Me Baby" takes a page from the old Bad Company playbook but with more growl. All nine tracks make for a complete vintage blues meets acid grunge rock experience. If you are looking for some blistering roots music to crank up real loud, you've found your album.

Album Rating 9.8

Sunstorm - Afterlife (Frontiers Music) Album Review

The Sunstorm brand has been around now for about 15 years and has been a bright spot in the melodic rock world. All 5 of the albums prior to the latest project were a vehicle for legendary vocalist Joe Lynn Turner. Turner apparently turned down another opportunity to keep the brand afloat. Rather than ending the project, the record label, Frontiers, recruited singer Ronnie Romero to pilot a revitalized version of the band. The results are suprisingly impressive. Romero has been fronting a number of projects and has been compared favorably to Ronnie James Dio and Graham Bonnet. The new album "Afterlife" was produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio who writes and arranges all of the music as well as playing keyboards and singing background vocals. 

The album's first song which is also the title track for this collection bursts forth with a searing guitar riff supplied by Simone Mularoni who has worked on other Sunstorm projects. He is a beast throughout this project, channeling people like Richie Blackmore and Joe Satriani. The chord shifts, the powerhouse drumming, provided by Michele Sana, and those ferocious bass lines played thunderously by Nik Mazzacconi give Sunstorm a unique and powerful hard rock audio template. "One Step Closer"offers a great singable chorus and a spiritual theme that dovetails with the title of the album. "Swan Song" opens with an airy synth which gives way to a crushing guitar riff, not unlike Sunstorm's signiture song "Edge of Tomorrow". Del Vecchio's lyrics continue to embrace pertinent questions while being generic enough to fit global or personal issues. 

"Born Again" combines elements of blues and hard driving rock while "Stronger" has more in common with AOR and melodic tendencies. Sunstorm was historically more aligned with bands like Journey and Foreigner but in recent years has more in common with the Rainbow and Deep Purple family adding rudiments of progressive rock and classic hard rock. "I Found A Way" makes good use of a bluesy riff and Romero's lower register which is very reminscient of David Coverdale. "Lost Forever" is a stunning power ballad featuring Del Vecchio on keyboards and background vocals. The tune is dripping with old school pomp and gives the album a bit of an intermission from the relentless guitar attack. 

"Far From Over" has one of the catchiest riffs on the album and certainly could be a radio single. A few plays and you're instantly hooked. "Here For You Tonight" is another superb melodic statement with a grand guitar intro followed by Romero singing over a memorable music bed. Mularoni's versatility on lead guitar is a factor throughout this record. "Darkest Night" has a couple of Journey-esque hooks that again make for more great radio fodder. Rather than let up, this album gets better as it goes along. 

"A Story I Can Tell" combines all of the aforementioned elements into one big bold finishing stroke. The band comes in rocking and goes out rocking in the same way. Despite what Gene Simmons says, rock is alive and well, you just have to know where to find it. Sunstorm's "Afterlife" not only keeps the franchise alive, it ends up being the strongest album in the catalog to date. A classic from start to finish.

Album Rating 9.6

Chez Kane - Chez Kane (album review) Frontiers Music

A female rock singer that sounds like Lita Ford, Vixen, Pat Benatar, Fiona, Saraya and Allanah Myles. Introducing British vocalist Chez Kane. I never thought this genre would return to the music world. Kane embodies that leather clad beauty from the 1989 time machine. She sings like a woman determined to bring back this car cruisin' format with the top down and the speakers blaring. The album was written, arranged and produced with the help of Crazy Lixx frontman Danny Rexon. What they've achieved here is nothing less than stunning. All of those frowned upon attributes like melody and fat sounding keyboards are front and center. But it's Kane who delivers the goods on every track.

"Better Than Love" is a brilliant album opener loaded with great hooks and a killer sax part that feels very Eddie Money circa 1988. "All of It" rocks, stomps and hollers it's way through big hooks and choruses. It's as if Mutt Lange and Richie Zito are co-producing but it's Rexon doing his retrofitting on every song. "Rocket On The Radio" sounds like Poison and Journey at times. There are so many great chord changes and singable lines that you'll immediately get wrapped up in the songs. "Get It On" opens with a full chorus of vocals combining a Def Leppard and Vixen strategy. The hooks are immediately lovable. "Too Late For Love" is the song Vixen wish they could have written. A perfect build up and an absolute radio juggernaut if we actually had melodic rock terrestrial radio in the year 2021. 

"Defender of The Heart" is this great mid-tempo semi-ballad that takes this into the pure pop category. This would have topped the top 40 in 1987. The songwriting is all stellar on this project. With so many used up melodies out there, it's a wonder that Rexon and company were able to deliver so many original songs here. "Ball and Chain" is half Bon Jovi and half Vixen. Kane's gutsy vocals defy logic and along with the insane choruses make this pure time travel material. "Midnight Rendezvous" is more of an AOR rock track with Kane pushing the boundaries vocally. The guitars on this one are like a freight train on both the rhythm parts and the solo. "Die In The Name of Love" is a sweet late night top 40 track with superb production especially on the keyboards and vocals. This record is so damn catchy it's almost criminal. 

"Dead End Street" is the last track on this record and it's super close to being a power ballad. The chord progressions and mood of the song put you in a time trance like you've heard this before yet it's brand new material. This is the best album I've heard in 2021. There are no duds or misfires here. For the fan of melodic rock when it was truly melodic.

Album rating 9.9

Kreek - Kreek via Frontiers Music SRL (album review)

Hard rock without all the needless add-ons. A clean rough and tumble sound that still has enough air in it to allow a full interpretation of what you are hearing. A lead singer that has touches of Ian Gillan and David Byron (former Uriah Heep). Bass lines that are high in the mix and give the music a high octane groove. Guitar solos that harken back to the guitar slinger era and add so much depth and texture to the music. Drums that are clean and crisp and drive the band forward. 

Welcome to the first album by the British band Kreek. In addition to all these aforemention traits, Kreek has crafted some amazing, original material. "At The Bottom of Hell" leads off as a nearly 7 minute story perfect for a horror movie soundtrack. If mainstream rock radio took a chance on this it would be an immediate hit. The band is made up of some real talented men. Antony Ellis (formerly of Bigfoot) on lead vocals, Nick Clarke on electric guitar, Lee Andrews on bass guitar and Seb Sweet on drums. "Missiles" and "Meet Your Maker" are both rocking, the latter being a bit of a punky shout and holler anthem. "Million Dollar Man" is a radio ready rocker with great chord changes and a killer chorus. Ellis can sing his ass off and proves it on every track. The joy of hearing every instrument and vocal clearly gives Kreek a big advantage on this album.

"One Voice" and "Man on My Shoulder" both rock out but are stylistically very different. Kreek doesn't employ a monolithic template to any of these songs. There are elements of hard rock and old school metal, but it's rather hard to categorize. "Stand Together" is a bluesy Zeppelinish tale that glides along with both electric and acoustic guitars. Another rock radio ready song. "Down and Dirty" borrows some from Collective Soul but it's airy bass line takes the song in a different direction. "Get Up" is another traditional rocker with each player firing on all cylinders. These guys write new and interesting hooks. "You're On Your Own" is the album's only ballad. And it's the perfect way to end the album with guitars still blazing and drums still pounding. Kreek is a band you shouldn't overlook especially if you are from the old school way of rock but are looking for some fresh sounds.

Album Rating 9.4