{"id":56194,"date":"2017-12-02T04:09:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T09:09:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=56194"},"modified":"2017-12-02T04:38:41","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T09:38:41","slug":"jeff-scott-soto-retribution-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2017\/jeff-scott-soto-retribution-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Scott Soto | Retribution"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari<\/span>
\n– Sr. Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"With a career now spanning an incredible 30 years, here on this his seventh solo outing, released on the Frontiers Records label, Soto continues the brand of music he does so well – hard driving, truthful, heavy, and melodic. Fans of Pink Cream 69, Jaded Heart, Hardline, Joe Lynn Turner, and the recent (outstanding!!) Sons of Apollo release, will want to add this one to their collections.<\/p>\n

Ballads, mid-tempo Melodic Hard Rock, and loud, hard-driving numbers all makeup what is one fantastic anthology of music heard throughout Retribution<\/em>. The guitar work is excellent, subtle keyboards snake their way in the background, the drums are hit hard and in the middle of it, all are the vocals of Jeff Scott Soto. Front and center, impossible to miss, and expressive as hell. And it is that which makes Soto such a fantastic vocalist. He possesses a natural ability to bring out the emotions that each individual song does have \u2013 and the emotions he wants the song to have, whether it be a personal message to a sorely missed family member, a tender love song, or a powerful, almost spiteful hard rocker. He is able to dig deep into the core of the song and with his voice share with the listener a story. While the world is filled with incredible vocalists, few are able to connect with a song the way Soto can. <\/p>\n

What works here, in addition to of course the vocals, is his band. The drums are pulverizing, and are played with no apologies. The choruses are epic, the pairing of Soto and his longtime guitarist Howie Simon is spot on, and the two play off each other extremely well. On so many of the songs heard here, both Simon and Soto push each other, and using the talents each of them do have, complete the songs. They two make up an amazing team, and it is a hope that those two never go their separate ways, for the magic the two bring to a CD\/Jeff Scott Soto concert is immeasurable (for proof listen to Soto\u2019s beyond good Live At FireFest).<\/p>\n

Turn up the volume up loud, slip this CD into your player, sit back and prepare yourself to be taken away as you listen to the opening track, the driving, guitar, and organ-heavy Hard Rock title track. That heaviness continues with track 2, \u201cInside\/Outside\u201d, and also take time to listen to the Melodic Rock of \u201cReign Again,\u201d the guitar riffs of \u201cLast Time,\u201d and \u201cRage of the Year,\u201d and the bluesy, spiteful feel of \u201cBullet For My Baby.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSong For Joey,\u201d a stunning, tender ballad Jeff wrote for his brother Joey who passed away earlier this year will bring tears to your eyes as you feel of a brother\u2019s love for a family member taken way to soon. On a \u201cSong For Joey,\u201d Jeff sings of how music was his and his brother\u2019s common ground, and how now he is forced to walk alone. Perfectly written, flawlessly played with true sincerity, \u201cSong For Joey,\u201d will touch the hearts of many. The heaviness soon becomes the order of the day again with the following song \u201cBreakout,\u201d and the melody soars on \u201cDedicate To You.\u201d Retribution closes with \u201cAutumn,\u201d a gentle song complete with acoustic guitars, light-handed percussion and the poignant vocals Jeff Scott Soto is so good at bringing to his songs, makes \u201cAutumn\u201d a must hear. <\/p>\n

Certainly, a release that completely useless American radio will stupidly ignore, but the hell with radio for they will never change and own up to the fact that they are letting artists like Jeff Scott Soto, and his fans down. What you can do is make Retribution part of your listening world, and get lost in the Hard Rock, the ballads, and sentiments that are all over this incredible release. <\/p>\n

Genre: Hard Rock, Melodic Hard Rock<\/p>\n

Band Members:
\nJeff Scott Soto \u2013 keyboards, lead vocals
\nHowie Simon \u2013 guitars, bass, background vocals
\nEdu Cominato \u2013 drums
\nAugust Zadra \u2013 guitar on \u201cReign Again\u201d
\nStephen Sturm \u2013 guitar on \u201cReign Again\u201d
\nCarlos Costa \u2013 bass guitar on \u201cReign Again\u201d
\nPaul Mendonca \u2013 guitar, keyboards, bass guitar on \u201cSong For Joey\u201d <\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tRetribution
\n2.\tInside\/Outside
\n3.\tRage of the Year
\n4.\tReign Again
\n5.\tFeels Like Forever
\n6.\tLast Time
\n7.\tBullet For My Baby
\n8.\tSong For Joey\u2019
\n9.\tBreakout
\n10.\tDedicate To You
\n11.\tAutumn<\/p>\n

Label: Frontiers Records<\/p>\n

Website: www.jeffscottsoto.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 9 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Franco Cerchiari – Sr. Columnist — With a career now spanning an incredible 30 years, here on this his seventh solo outing, released on the Frontiers Records label, Soto continues the brand of music […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":56197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15128],"tags":[374,1103,13936,185,2847,12354,9317,13727],"class_list":{"0":"post-56194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2017","8":"tag-frontiers-records","9":"tag-hard-rock","10":"tag-howie-simmons","11":"tag-jeff-scott-soto","12":"tag-melodic-hard-rock","13":"tag-music-review","14":"tag-retribution","15":"tag-sons-of-apollo"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}