Burning Rain | Epic Obsession

by John Kindred
- Publisher –

Doug Aldrich’s career can be traced all the way back to Lion, the ‘80s hard rock band. He recorded albums with Hurricane and House of Lords before forming Bad Moon Rising with Lion vocalist Kal Swan. His next project was Burning Rain, which was formed with vocalist Keith St. John. Burning Rain released two albums: The self-titled Burning Rain in 1999 and Pleasure to Burn in 2000. Aldrich later joined the late Ronnie James Dio band in 2001 before finally joining Whitesnake and becoming a songwriting partner with David Coverdale. While Aldrich had joined Whitesnake in 2003, he and St. John signed a recording contract with Frontiers Records in 2004 for a third Burning Rain album.

With Whitesnake’s resurgence in popularity and a relentless tour schedule that soon led to releasing two studio albums, subsequent releases of live albums and DVDs, Burning Rain was put on hold – until now. So after a nine-year hiatus, St. John and Aldrich have returned with their third studio album Epic Obsession. The album contains 12 new blistering hard rock songs and two bonus tracks. Co-produced by Aldrich and St. John, the duo has rounded out the band with bassist Sean McNabb (Dokken, Quiet Riot) and Matt Star (Ace Frehley).

Burning Rain delivers music that is a product of the bygone 1970s. The songs and arrangements are infused with the ‘80s arena-style hooks, which are elevated by today’s advanced recording technologies. Led by Aldrich’s sure-handed fret work and St. John’s grit-infused-bluesy vocal swagger, they hold their own when compared to their peers, including going head to head with Aldrich’s other band, Whitesnake. There also is a comparison to be drawn; Aldrich grew up on British rock, and Coverdale’s Whitesnake was an influence for him way before he joined the band.

With that said, Aldrich is his own man. He has developed his style over the years, working in many bands and projects. He is the foundation of Burning Rain, just as he is with Whitesnake, Lion or Bad Moon Rising. His fret-work is exhilarating, energetic, sure-handed, aggressive and elegant. Whether it’s Keith St. John or Coverdale, the music always tells the tale and gives quality singers a canvas on which to paint their vocals.

As a hard rock, heavy blues rock fan, which you surely are if like Burning Rain, well, the band brings it. And while it has been awhile since we had fresh music to enjoy, maybe it’s bitter sweet to have waited so long. Because the final product is everything you want and more. Keith St. John sounds amazing here and hasn’t skipped a beat. Aldrich brings forth up-tempo rockers that carry the torch of rock, and for good measure, delivers a ballad or two. Fourteen tracks, 74-minutes in the hands of lesser musicians would be tiresome, but Epic Obsession begs to be listened to, and the time goes by in the blink of an eye.

Genre: Hard Rock

Band:
Doug Aldrich (g)
Keith St John (v)
Sean McNabb (b)
Matt Starr (d)

Guests:
Brian Tichy (d)
Jimmy D’Anda (d)

Track List:
1. Sweet Little Baby Thing
2. The Cure
3. Till You Die
4. Heaven Gets Me By
5. Pray Out Loud
6. Our Time Is Gonna Come
7. Too Hard To Break
8. My Lust Your Fate
9. Made For Your Heart
10. Ride The Monkey
11. Out In The Cold Again
12. When Can I Believe In Love

Bonus tracks.
13. Kashmir*;
14. Heaven Gets Me By (acoustic)*

Label: Frontiers Records

Web: http://www.burningrain.net/

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.5/10

Dio | The Very Beast of Vol. 2

by John Kindred
- Publisher –

There is no doubt that the legacy of Ronnie James Dio will burn forever in the heart of metal fans all over the world. With that said, Niji Entertainment has released The Very Beast of Vol. 2, which is the follow-up to The Very Beast Of Dio and covers the years from 1996 to 2010. The albums represented include: Angry Machines (1996), Inferno: Last in Live (1998), Magica (2000), Killing the Dragon (2002), Masters of the Moon (2004), Tournado Box Set (2010) and the Feinstein album Bitten by the Beast (2010).

Dio, much like Ozzy, has played with the best guitarists of the genre during this featured time period: Tracy G., Craig Goldy and Doug Aldrich. Longtime writing partner, bassist Jimmy Bain, is represented on several songs, as well as his replacements Jeff Pilson and Larry Dennison. The drums where handled by Vinny Appice up until 1999, and then Simon Wright took the throne until ’10. Finally, longtime keyboardist Scott Warren, whose tenure ran from 1993-2010, makes his presence known on all the songs on The Very Beast of Vol. 2.

The Very Beast of Vol. 2 features 17 songs, including the rare “Electra” from the Tournado box set. The Feinstein song “Metal Will Never Die” from Bitten by the Beast and “Prisoner of Paradise,” which was appeared on the Japanese release Masters of the Moon, also are included. Artist Marc Sasso painted the front cover, and the linear notes were penned by Eddie Trunk.

“Best of” releases generally will either appeal to die-hard fans or be frowned upon, as everyone has a distinct list of the favorite Dio songs. For the most part, The Very Beast of Vol. 2 delivers a strong set of songs produced, mixed, and re-mastered by Dio’s longtime engineer, Wyn Davis. Everyone will have a favorite era, favorite guitarist or album. Stylistically, Dio always produced albums that had continuity in artistic style. While each guitarist had distinctive solo abilities, the rhythmic crunch of each was uniquely similar, guided by the hand of Ronnie James Dio, himself.

Available worldwide, unlike its predecessor, The Very Beast of Vol. 2 is a nice addition to any of Dio’s disciples CD collection. The man is gone from this Earth, but his voice and legacy live on …

Genre: Heavy Metal

Musicians:
Ronnie James Dio – Vocals, Keyboards
Tracy G – Guitars
Craig Goldy – Guitars
Doug Aldrich – Guitars
Jeff Pilson – Bass
Larry Dennison – Bass
Jimmy Bain – Bass
Vinny Appice – Drums
Simon Wright – Drums
Scott Warren – Keyboards

Track Listing:
01. Killing the Dragon
02. Push
03. The Eyes
04. Along Comes A Spider
05. Better In The Dark
06. Fever Dreams
07. Black
08. Feed My Head
09. Shivers
10. Hunter Of The Heart (live)
11. One More For The Road
12. Lord Of The Last Day
13. Electra (bonus track)
14. As Long As It’s Not About Love
15. This Is Your Life
16. Metal Will Never Die (bonus track)
17. Prisoner Of Paradise (bonus track)

Label: Niji Entertainment

Hardrock Haven rating: n/a

Lita Ford | Living Like A Runaway

by Marcel “Mars” Groeneveld
- Columnist –

Lita Ford, a British born rocker who grew up on the streets of L.A., is considered one of the most important female representatives of the rock genre. As a founding member of the Runaways, Ford was part of one of the first girl groups who unexpectedly broke down barriers during the punk era as well as the male-dominated world of rock music.

Following the demise of the Runaways, Lita Ford concentrated on her own career and now looks back on many memorable hits including: the chart topping duet with Ozzy Osbourne “Close Your Eyes Forever,” “What Do You Know About Love,” “Shot Of Poison,” “Larger Than Life,” “Lisa” and “Kiss Me Deadly”.

Unlike Lita Fords 2009 release, Wicked Wonderland, the release of Living Like A Runaway, takes Lita back to her roots. A lot of fans were very disappointed in the previous release which should have been called Lita and Jim and not have been released under Lita’s banner. Anyway, thank God, or no thank Gary Hoey for stepping into Ford’s life.

Gary Hoey (Heavy Bones, billboard top 5 hit with Focus cover, “Hocus Pocus” in ’93) is a well-respected melodic guitarist, producer and songwriter. With him sharing the same passion for melodic rock, Ford is finally giving what the fans expect to get from her, and that is straight forward, catchy rock ‘n roll with her own signature bite to it.

The downside sometimes about writing reviews is that labels will never send out the actual cd and in this case what we have here is the 10 song stduio release with none of the bonus songs. The limited digipack has two bonus tracks, one features the master mind of Doug Aldrich, whom has been put to the test writing the riffs and chorus melody on “Bad Neighborhood.” The other bonus is an Elton John’s cover of “The Bitch Is Back,” also exclusive for i-Tunes the song “Boiling Point” is available.

Also there are no lyrics available with artwork and that is something Lita is actually extra proud of this time around, having spent a lot of extra time giving this album some extra meaning, making it more personal with lyricist Michael Dan Ehmig also on her team. Ford has worked hard to not just throw a few songs together and put them on an album but actually takes you on her journey and tells a story of a runaway living her life.

Having real personal issues turned into songs like the opener “Branded” which describes her marital bliss turned bad with fellow rocker Jim Gillette (Nitro). Musically it would have easily fit on Stiletto or Dangerous Curves, a real catchy rocker. While “Mother” is a real emotional song about a mother leaving her child while running away from a bad relationship.

“The Mask” speaks for itself, touching on how someone is another person underneath the mask they hold in front for others to see. It is a nice groovy song with a solid base and shows Lita’s voice is as strong as ever. “Living Like A Runaway,” a semi ballad, tells the story about Lita leaving the Runaways, standing on her own two feet and shows off her guitar talent as well. She once again put her mom, Lisa Ford into her lyrics like she did on Stiletto with the very cool song “Lisa,” which was a tribute to her mother.

The very catchy “Relentless” is a song that hits your brain, like a freight train, very cool lyrics, a ballsy side of Lita with cool twin guitars and Gary Hoey acing the solo. Lita is showing who is boss, being a girl, playing guitar and rocking it despite what anyone thinks.

One would expecting to hear Ozzy voice after “Devil In My Head” kicks into gear, when you play a riff like that Ozzy must be close. Again Lita kicks total ass on guitar here and only makes me wonder where the hell has she been these last years. Very cool touch with acoustic guitars blended in, reminds me a bit to Heavy Bones.

Of course a ballad could not fail on this opus but again Lita proves why she is the true Metal Queen. Yes she had the looks in “the ‘80s” and still looks amazing but she can hold her own musically. Clearly with stronger vocals skills than ever before she attacks the darker lyrical “Asylum.” Replacing the keyboard ending might have been a better option but that’s a matter of taste, or money. Anyway Lita opens up and tells all!

“Love 2 Hate U” the first song written by Gary and Lita is actually a duet. Although no information was given by the label it seems you can hear Gary’s voice. Again a semi ballad opening with acoustic guitar would have done great in the hay days when Rock of Ages ruled the world. Amazing guitar work, catchy chorus a potential hit for sure. The album is closed by Nikki Sixx song “A Song To Slit Your Wrists By” (58’s, Nikki’s side project band) although not a bad cover it stands out a little when stacked up against the original songs already heard.

One thing becomes clear, Lita Ford is back and she will win over the old fans she has lost and gain some new fans as her band, Poison and Def Leppard tour this summer. The Rock Of Ages Summer tour will certainly help her get the job done.

Genre: Melodic Hard Rock

Line up:
Lita Ford – vocals, guitar and keyboards
Gary Hoey – guitar, bass, keyboards and background vocals
Matt Scurfield – drums

Production:
Produced by Bobby Collin, Lita Ford and Gary Hoey

Standard jewel case version
1. Branded 3:46
2. Hate 3:54
3. The Mask 4:08
4. Living Like A Runaway 4:46
5. Relentless 3:47
6. Mother 2:54
7. Devil In My Head 5:21
8. Asylum 4:33
9. Love 2 Hate U 3:44
10. A Song To Slit Your Wrists By 3:54

Limited edition Digipak version
1. Branded 3:46
2. Hate 3:54
3. The Mask 4:08
4. Living Like A Runaway 4:46
5. Relentless 3:47
6. Mother 2:54
7. Devil In My Head 5:21
8. Asylum 4:33
9. Love 2 Hate U 3:44
10. A Song To Slit Your Wrists By 3:54

BONUS TRACKS:
11. Bad neighborhood 3:42
12. The Bitch Is Back 3:38

EXCLUSIVE iTunes Bonus Track
11. Boiling Point 4:09

Double gatefold LP version
LP SIDE 1:
1. Branded 3:46
2. Hate 3:54
3. The Mask 4:08
LP SIDE 2:
1. Relentless 3:47
2. Devil In My Head 5:21
3. Asylum 4:33
LP SIDE 3:
1. Living Like A Runaway 4:46
2. Mother 2:54
3. A Song To Slit Your Wrists By 3:54
LP SIDE 4:
1. Love 2 Hate You 3:44

BONUS TRACKS:
2. Bad Neighborhood 3:42
3. The Bitch Is Back 3:38

Record Label: SPV/Steamhammer

Hardrock Haven rating 9.5/10

LIVE! | Whitesnake in the Netherlands

by Marcel Groeneveld
Staff Writer –

December 3rd, 2011, at De MuziekCentrum in Enschede, Netherlands

This nights event is not just a normal rock event for Whitesnake’s Forevermore world tour, as the tour already came to the Netherlands some 5 months ago.

This night was a sign of respect and appreciation between two hard rock heavyweights David Coverdale and Adrian VandenBerg who once were partners in crime. There are a lot of discussions of what the best line up of Whitesnake was. For many attendees of tonight’s show it was the lineup which included Adrian “Adje” VandenBerg, which is not so surprising as Enschede is the home town of the guitarist.

There weren’t any AC/DC or, Iron Maiden shirts like you would normally see at a Whitesnake show. The audience tonight was not filled with the standard group of rock fans but was instead made up of friends, family and people from Enschede who came to see “ Adje” and David united once again on stage.

The Irish hard rockin’ blues band (As they call themselves.), The Answer, were up for the challenge to warm up the just under 2000 people present tonight with their heavily influenced ’70s rock. The Answer are no strangers to supporting a big headliner, they were been hand-picked by AC/DC on their last world tour as the opening act, that took them on the road for almost two years, which is pretty amazing these days. In support of their new album Revival they supported yet another legend, Whitesnake.

Opening with the catchy “Vida” which is built around a strong riff and chorus, has that straight ahead no bull feel to it, what you hear is what you get and that is ground stomping rock ‘n roll. Cormac Neeson’s raspy voice is perfect and a connection with a band like The Black Crowes is easily made, Brother Cane also comes to mind. Although the first three songs were well received , after ”Under the Sky” and sing a long song “On and On” the crowd seemed to take to the band.

Guitarist Paul Mahon performance on “Evil Man” shows his ability to enhance the song without “showing off.” He roamed the entire stage from the beginning of the show, bass player Micky Waters caught on later realizing the size of the stage allows him to move around more freely unlike smaller venues. Drummer James Heatley played without lighting throughout the set but still did an awesome job and was tight as one could be.

The band’s performance of the slower song “Nowhere Freeway” was dedicated to Whitesnake ‘s crew. Performing a little Belfast blues the song “Trouble” was played, harmonica and all, again inciting the crowd to sing along. Closing down the gig with “Waste Your Tears,” The Answer did what they set out to do , warm up the crowd and gain a few new fans and I am sure they accomplished just that tonight. Catch them live because they are still touring as we speak.

Band:
Cormac Neeson – Vocals
Paul Mahon – Guitar
Micky Waters – Bass
James Heatley – Drums

Setlist:
1. Vida
2. Under The Sky
3. On And On
4. Evil Man
5. Too Far Gone
6. Nowhere Freeway
7. Trouble
8. Waste Your Tears

Website: http://www.theanswer.ie/

Never before did Whitesnake play in Enschede and everything was in place to make this a memorable night. Opening with the intro the Who’s classic “My Generation” the show starts for these bad boys of rock with the classic “Bad Boys” spurring the crowd to their feet as soon as David Coverdale screams his favorite word of the night, Enschede! The gunslingers of the night Reb Beach and Doug Aldrich are take turns on the solo’s for the classic songs. Although Reb seemed to struggled with his pedals, the duo are a perfect team and handle the twin solo parts with no problem at all. Straight away “Children of the Night” is blasting through the PA system with Michael Devin and Brian Tichy sounding very bombastic, while Brian Ruedy’s keyboards are sometimes lost in the mix.

This was corrected by the time David welcomes the Enschede crowd, and “Give Me All Your Love” is being played, it is obvious David and the rest of the band are not only performing on stage but have a lot of fun doing it tonight and the Beatles’ song “Yesterday” is being turned over in “Enschede all your troubles seem so far way …” and led in to “Love Ain’t No Stranger” and “The Deeper the Love.”

As it is a friendly crowd they brought written requests for David to sing pieces from “Love is Blind” and he obliged. Doing it again after “Steal Your Heart Away” a little taste of “Now You’re Gone “ is being brought by the master. Although David can’t reach as high and even midrange as in the hey days, he has got the roughness in his voice back and the screams which he didn’t had on the Bad to the Bone tour he played Holland; he is making fun about him being an old man but the geezer still rocks!

After the love song “Forevermore” and fooling around about the airco “The Dutch Wind” Doug and Reb were going at it face to face in a guitar duel and showed us their skills which shows us the guitar heroes of today with both their own style. The guys continued with “Snake Dance” and “Can You Hear the Wind Blows” a little teaser of “Rock Me Baby “ to the semi ballad “Love Will Set You Free” was song along by the fans. With the instrumental jam being called “The Badger” on the set-list it was time for the spotlight kid Brian Tichy to perform his drum solo.

Starting off and coming up with some gadgets like Chinese chopsticks and also drumming with Ginsu knives was fun, but then it became a Tommy Aldridge clone as Tommy used to play bare hands on the drums and this part took way too long, ending it with laminated drum sticks launching them by beating on the floor tom and letting go looked like fireworks, which was a cool sight. Time for a little fun and play and introducing the band and going in to some “Slow and Easy” and David missing the first words of “Is This Love” might be staged, however the crowd is helping him sing one of his biggest hits.

Up next the much anticipated highlight of the evening for 90 percent of the audience and probably the whole band was the entrance of the flying Dutchman Adrian Vandenberg, being reunited once again with Coverdale and having some fun with close to 2,000 of their friends.

You could sense the history in the blasting of “Fool for Your Lovin’” and I have never witnessed so much respect for a guy on stage before. Doug was pushing Adje to the spotlight each time as Adje seems to be a bit timid, while Reb just wanted to play and stand next to him and all this while David was hugging everyone, what a special sight to see.

Adje slipped up here and there but no one seem to care, the Enschede quire was singing “Here I Go Again,” and again Doug shoved Adje to the front a few times. With David says “Still of the Night” De MuziekCentrum is shaking on its foundations.

With a standing ovation, so to speak, Adje and band walks of stage and leave David to sing “Soldier of Fortune;” he must had some emotions stuck in his throat cause he was a little of key.

The band returns and performs Deep Purple’s “Burn,” with Coverdale adding maracas to the arrangement. Doug shreds while the organ is blasting like a storm which brings on “Stormbringer,” which ends the show. With early Christmas spirit all the guys including Adje gathers around the microphone and singing “White(snake) Christmas.” Saying goodbye until next time the two-hour show ends, lights go down and the tape of “We Wish You Well” plays, and the really special night comes to an end.

Set List:
1. Intro My Generation (The Who)
2. Bad Boys / Children Of The Night
3. Give Me All Your Love, Yesterday The Beatles cover turns ‘Enschede’
4. Love Ain’t No Stranger
5. The Deeper The Love , Love Is Blind only vocal
6. Steal Your Heart Away Now You’re Gone , only vocal
7. Forevermore
8. Guitar Duel
9. Snake Dance
10. Can You Hear The Wind Blow intro Rock Me Baby
11. Love Will Set You Free
12. The Badger (instrumental Jam)
13. Drum Solo Brian Tichy
14. Band Introductions incl. snippets of ‘Walk This Way’, ‘Another One Bites the Dust’, ‘Dancing Girls’, ‘Eye of the Tiger…Slow an’ Easy, Eye of the tiger, ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’, ‘Fire.
15. Is This Love
• Fool For Your Lovin’ (* Adrian Vandenberg joins)
• Here I Go Again)
• Still Of The Night
16. Soldier of Fortune(David A cappella)
17. Burn / Stormbringer
• White(snake) Christmas a capella band with Adje
18. Outro We Wish You Well

Whitesnake De MuziekCentrum Photo Gallery

[Photos appear courtesy of Marcel “Mars “Groeneveld with Pictures RMD Entertainment.]

LIVE! | Whitesnake

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

August 9, 2011 at The Midland Theater in Kansas City, MO.

Since the retooled Whitesnake returned to the stage for the bands 25th anniversary in 2002, Coverdale and company have released two studio albums; ’08′s Good To Be Bad and ’11′s Forevermore, a live DVD, ’06′s Live… In The Still of the Night, and the live double-CD release, ’06′s Live: in The Shadow of the Blues. The band continues to tour, and its latest venture in support of Forevermore rolled through the Midwest and made a stop at the majestic Midland Theater in Kansas City, Mo.

David Coverdale, Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach and ‘snake newbies drummer Brian Tichy, bassist Michael Devin and keyboardist Brian Ruedy promptly took the stage at 9 p.m. Having steered away from evolving into nostalgia act, Whitesnake brings new life to its staple of hard rock classics by including songs from the band’s last two studio albums in their set.

Coverdale, the senior statesman of the band, leads a group of accomplished and experienced musicians. Having carried the flag for rock ‘n’ roll forward into battle since the late ‘70s under the band’s moniker, Coverdale lives his life as prophesied within his own lyrics, “… I keep on dreaming dreams of tomorrow … always taking my chances on the promise of the future.” Time after time, he brings the attitude and the band to back it up.

Performing an abbreviated set that lasted only an hour and a half, Whitesnake opened the show with “Best Years” from ‘08′s Good To Be Bad. Coverdale and company hit the stage with youthful energy and passion. The band delivered up a set that included three new songs: “Steal Your Heart Away,” “Love Will Set You Free” and “Forevermore,” which Coverdale dedicated to the fans. They also performed music from the album Slide It In: “Love Ain’t No Strange” and the title track. The 1987 Whitesnake album was represented by the songs “Is This Love” and “Here I Go Again,” and they squeezed in a song from Slip of the Tongue, “The Deeper the Love.” They closed out the night with the encore “Still of the Night,” again, culled from the 1987 Whitesnake album.

There is a lot of talk on the Internet about Coverdale’s voice. Although he certainly is not in his 20s or 30s anymore, his vocals continue to be strong when he is singing in a lower register or mid-timbre. His voice is strained when he sings higher. Performing live, Coverdale receives some help by bassist Michael Devin filling in some of the vocals in the choruses and the crowd when he directs them to sing along. The band makes do, and it works well live. The background vocals have that live, stadium-quality sound, filling up the live mix, sounding full and awesome. Generally, all members of the band handled the background vocals during the choruses.

Coverdale would be the first to tell you that Doug Aldrich is special. He shines as a guitarist; ripping through solos, once written and performed by the likes of Sykes and Vai, with relative ease. He is an amazing performer to watch live. His solo on “Forevemore” was extremely well crafted and executed. Reb Beach is no slouch, either. He is quite excitable on stage and shows genuine happiness to be performing live. He takes on his share of the solos and is amazing, as well. Both Beach and Aldrich shared the spotlight, performing a guitar duel shredding like crazed madmen.

Whitesnake delivers. Everyone in the group is in constant motion. Coverdale is always in action, twirling the microphone stand and gyrating into the air. Beach, Aldrich and Devin are all animated, putting 100 percent into the performance. Ruedy, although chained behind his keyboards, holds down the fort by delivering the melodies and synth hooks that all the fans know and remember. All the while, Tichy locks in with Devin, allowing the music to pulsate, writhe and slither, cause that’s what ‘snakes do.

The Band:
Briian Tichy – Michael Devin – David Coverdale – Doug Aldrich – Reb Beach – Brian Ruedy

Set List:
1. Best Years
2. Give Me All Your Love
3. Love Ain’t No stranger
4. Is This Love
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. [Guitar Duel]
7. Love Will Set You Free
8. Drum Solo
9. Forevermore
10. The Deeper the Love
11. Slide It In
12. Here I Go Again

Encore:
13. Still Of The Night

2011 Whitesnake Photo Gallery

Photos appear courtesy of John Kindred

George Lynch : Kill All Control

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

Guitarist George Lynch returns with his latest solo album Kill All Control. You know him from the ‘80s with Dokken, and later he formed the infamous Lynch Mob. Over the years, Lynch has maintained a steady release of solo records, while keeping Lynch Mob alive and kicking in various incarnations. Chances are that a complete Dokken reunion never will happen; however, Lynch doesn’t live in the past. He continues to expand on his fret board wizardry and add to his catalog of music.

Following up on his latest solo project, Souls of We, Lynch, along with vocalist London Legrand (Brides of Destruction) and drummer Adrian Ost (Powerman 5000), put together a majority of the music for Kill All Control within 10 days. Lynch’s guitar playing always has included his flair for exotic explorations, which he has expounded and expanded on during his 30-plus years as a musician. With Kill All Control, he falls back to the foundational premise of his 1993 solo album, Sacred Groove, which featured a who’s who of hard rock’s premier vocal talent.

Kill All Control features Keith St. John (Montrose, Burning Rain), Will Martin (Earshot), Marq Torien (Bulletboys) and Fred Coury (Cinderella). Each guest makes an appearance on the 13-track release. Burning Rain fans will recognize Keith St. John’s voice on “Resurrect Your Soul,” “Rattlesnake,” “Man on Fire” and as backing vocals on many other songs on the CD. Fred Coury lends his skills to the instrumental song, “Son of Scary,” which tips it hat to the Grammy-nominated “Mr. Scary” from Dokken’s Back for the Attack album release in 1988.

Kill All Control lives and breathes with Lynch coaxing harmonic screams, melodic phrasing, smooth legato runs and unique chord arrangements from his guitar. The vocalists take their opportunities to lay down stellar vocal performances throughout the album. The eclectic group brings varied genres of rock into the mix and creates nuances that include traditional hard rock, alternative and modern rock. They also work together to create full, thick melodic choruses that are quite memorable. Keith St. John really shines here. If you like his voice, check out his work with Doug Aldrich in the band Burning Rain.

People would really like to hear Lynch shred, but he is truly at home in the vocal-guitar-bass-drums band format. His guitar style allows the music to breathe as his rhythm playing doesn’t dominate or over power the vocals. In fact, his snake-like slithering approach intertwines within the confines of the music in such a way that he really is shredding throughout the album. He never stays in positions in which he is just hammering out rooted 5th power chords. His use of all six strings in the rhythmic passages gives the guitar a big, dynamic sound.

Lynch fans will love Kill All Control and will be glad to add the album to their collection. Even with a variety of vocalists, the album feels more cohesive than his last project with Souls of We. Honestly, we don’t need Lynch back in Dokken. Dokken (yes, that’s you Don) lives in the past and has become a cover band with many well-known names brought in to re-create Lynch’s guitar style for the band. George Lynch is his own man, who was borne from the mettle of ‘70s classic rock players, fused with the inspiration of Van Halen and Malmsteen, and is someone who continues to strive to discover new music within his soul. Oh yeah, “Wicked Witch” absolutely is one if the best songs of 2011.

Genre: Hard Rock

Label: Rocket Science, Inc.

Track Listing:
1. Kill All Control
2. Done
3. Fly on the Wall
4. Brand New Day
5. Wicked Witch
6. Man on Fire
7. Voices in My Head
8. Resurrect Your Soul
9. Rattlesnake
10. Man on Fire
11. My Own Enemy
12. Son of Scary
13. Go It Alone

Web: http://www.georgelynch.com

Hardrock Haven rating: 9.5/10

Whitesnake Forevermore

by Mark Allen
Staff Writer

After achieving multi-platinum success in the late ‘80s by injecting their blues-based roots with a healthy helping of hair-metal sheen, Whitesnake began to slowly shrivel up and ride off into the sunset of irrelevance, partly due to the grunge invasion, partly due to a lack of noteworthy activity. People began to wonder if there was any bite left in the band or if the fangs had been forever plucked. Then Whitesnake struck back with 2008’s Good to be Bad and all naysayers were immediately silenced and many a jaw was dropped in surprise.

The new album, Forevermore, wrapped in an aura of high expectations, is now upon us and faithfully follows the same pattern as Good to be Bad, meaning it wisely and effortlessly meshes together the various eras of Whitesnake’s history. There are plenty of blues-rock tracks; for example, the opening song, “Steal Your Heart Away,” features a slinky slide guitar and happy harmonica riff to go along with the blistering double punch guitar salvo. There are also multiple nods to the band’s commercial metal glory days, with songs like “Love and Treat Me Right” captivating the ears with catchy hooks, “My Evil Ways” slamming out the sugar-coated heaviness, and “Dogs in the Street” serving up the street-rock swagger.

David Coverdale’s vocals, though a long way from ruined as some critics have claimed, are certainly not what they once were and anyone who says otherwise was either born without eardrums, suffers from delusional tendencies, or has been smoking substances that will get you 5 to 10. That said, he sounds perfectly acceptable. But then, that is the problem; Coverdale was once a vocal god, a metal maestro with a golden voice, and to hear him reduced to the level of merely “acceptable” is as off-putting to some fans as finding a pubic hair in your pepperoni pizza. Coverdale pulls a Don Dokken here, singing in a lower register since he can no longer hit the notes of old, and your expectations for this album should be filtered through that fact.

More than compensating for the standard issue vocals is some stupendously strong guitar work. There is simply nothing negative that can be written about the twin axe attack launched by Doug Aldrich and Reb Beach. These two rock legends play with such scorching energy that it’s a wonder they don’t melt the strings. The production caters to this fiery fret fusillade, engineering the guitars so they sound crisp and clean and backing them up with some very punchy drumming from Brian Tichy. The whole feel of the album is warm and organic without crossing the line into artificial gloss and glitz, allowing the melodic edges to really shine.

At thirteen songs, the album flirts dangerously with overstaying its welcome, a fact not helped by the inclusion of one or two ballads too many. Change those ballads to rockers and fans would be more apt to forgive the extended running time. Still, the album is good, and maybe good enough that those fans will forgive the band anyway. As far as quibbles go, this is a minor one, and Whitesnake deserves praise for giving their listeners too much music as opposed to not enough.

When you gaze back through the mists of metal history, it feels like Whitesnake has been around forever. Actually, in the hard rock world, three decades is forever. So now that they have unleashed a new album, who should pick it up? Well, Whitesnake fans should pick this up. ‘80s metal fans should pick this up. Hard rock fans should pick this up. Guitar rock fans should pick this up. In other words, the answer to who should pick this up is pretty simple: everyone.

Genre: Hard rock

Band:
David Coverdale (vocals)
Doug Aldrich (guitars)
Reb Beach (guitars)
Michael Devin (bass)
Brian Tichy (drums)

Additional Musician:
Timothy Drury (keyboards)

Track Listing:
1. Steal Your Heart Away
2. All Out of Luck
3. Love Will Set You Free
4. Easier Said Than Done
5. Tell Me How
6. I Need You (Shine a Light)
7. One of These Days
8. Love and Treat Me Right
9. Dogs in the Street
10. Fare Thee Well
11. Whipping Boy Blues
12. My Evil Ways
13. Forevermore

Label: Frontiers Records

www.whitesnake.com

Hardrock Haven rating: 8/10

Dio Holy Diver Live

by John Kindred
Staff Writer

The Blu-ray release of Holy Diver Live captures the ’05s incarnation of DIO performing the album Holy Diver in its entirety as well songs from Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio’s solo albums. Filmed October 22, ’2005 at the London’s Astoria Theatre the live performance has been captured in high definition for the enjoyment of Dio fans worldwide.

The latest addition to the DIO catalogue Holy Diver Live was originally released on DVD as well as 2-disk CD set. The Blu-ray release captures the bands performance of one Dio’s classic studio releases, Holy Diver. Not only is this classic album performed in its entirety but the band also performs songs from Ronnie James Dio’s days with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and from his solo career under his namesake.

The 05′ band lineup included some of metals finest musicians: Rudy Sarzo (b), Simon Phillips (d), Scott Warren (k) and Doug Aldrich (g). Aldrich who filled in for the injured Craig Goldy, handles his guitar duties with flawless execution as always. Although Sarzo’s performance isn’t as dynamic or aggressive as his predecessor Jimmy Bain but he gets the job done. Drummer Simon Phillips doesn’t show any dings in his armor and keyboardist Scott Warren delivers as usual.

It is interesting to note that Dio choose to perform the complete Holy Diver release live. It is apparent that for all the classic songs that were culled from that album that several tracks were purely filler. This in itself may be what makes the set list not as lively as it could have been. The performance captured on film is probably not one of Dio’s finer moments. Ronnie seems tired and his voice is lower than normal. Following up 2003′s Evil or Divine is definitely hard footsteps to follow in. Still one can’t get enough of classics like “Holy Diver,” “Rainbow In The Dark,” “Heaven and Hell,” “The Gates of Babylon” and “Long Live Rock and Roll.”

Bonus features include interviews of all the band members, which is insightful.

Although small in stature Ronnie James Dio had a huge heart and voice, he leaves a legacy that few will ever attain within the Hard Rock and Metal genres.

Genre: Hard Rock

Band:
Ronnie James Dio (v)
Rudy Sarzo (b)
Simon Phillips (d)
Scott Warren (k)
Doug Aldrich (g)

Blu-ray Details:
Studio Eagle Rock Entertainment ltd.
Original Year 2005
Catalog number: 33368
Discs 1
Release Date Oct 12, 2010
Running Time 125 Minutes
DTS Sound
Color

Track Listing:
1. Tarot Woman
2. The Sign of The Southern Cross
3. One Night In The City
4. Stand Up And Shout
5. Holy Diver
6. Gypsy
7. Caught In The Middle
8. Don’t Talk To Strangers
9. Straight Through The Heart
10. Invisible
11. Rainbow In The Dark
12. Shame On The Night
13. The Gates of Babylon
14. Heaven And Hell
15. Man On The Silver Mountain
16. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
17. We Rock

Hardrock Haven rating: n/a