| Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow | 1975 |
| Rising | 1976 |
| On Stage (live) | 1977 |
| Long Live Rock 'n' Roll | 1978 |
| Down To Earth | 1979 |
| Difficult To Cure | 1981 |
| Straight Between The Eyes | 1982 |
| Bent Out Of Shape | 1983 |
| Final Vinyl (live) | 1986 |
| Live In Germany '76 | 1994 |
| Stranger In Us All | 1995 |
| The Very Best Of Rainbow (compilation) | 1997 |
What happens when you're the egotistical lead guitarist in a band already crammed with egomaniac musicians that's quickly falling into chaos? You get yourself a backing ensemble that's certainly talented enough to carry your sound somewhere, but one that you can steal the spotlight in yourself. Upon leaving Deep Purple, that's exactly the situation Ritchie Blackmore found himself in. Though I must say, sometimes his motivation for doing this seems like a curious move to me - on quite a few occasions on Rainbow records, he actually seems more content to let his frontman take the spotlight, or else he's trying for a hit in a generic AOR vein during the 80's or something like that. Maybe he just didn't get along with Ian Gillan too well, or he felt the direction Purple was heading in was crap.
But anyway, at the core, as overly cheesy as they can be sometimes, Rainbow are a worthy entry into the mid-late 70's hard rock scene. Not only did they boast amazing guitar work from Blackmore on occasions (especially during live performances, or so I hear), but very often, their songs had a strong enough sense of melody that often elevated them to very impressive heights, and when the material was at its' most generic in the 80's, saved them from disaster into mild respectability (or sometimes guilty pleasure-like entertainment). Of course, this was probably due to both the 80's stagnation that tends to set in with older veterans and maybe that the subsequent singers after their original one were mostly indistinguished, therefore not hiding the cheese factor as well.
That original frontman I'm referring to was, during the band's classic period, one of the best 'power' singers in the business, the wailing elf Ronnie James Dio (let's just say, considering his height, the name of his old band was appropriate). Dio was also the one who pretty much defined the idea of 'Dungeons and Dragons' metal, and would also later join Black Sabbath, a page on which the band which bears his name is also reviewed. Seriously, the sheer power of Dio's voice can often make even the worst lyrical excesses in this vein come alive. Really, it's not that easy for me to be one over by 'power metal' subject matter, since it often sounds laughably cheesy, dated and technically soulless (at least to my ears). But when it's already helped (most of the time) by excellent melodies and riffs, it can be a heck of an entertaining and powerful sound. And although they were a little standard-sounding, the keyboards often contributed well to the actual atmosphere here.
Of course, like Blackmore's tenure in Deep Purple, Rainbow ultimately disintegrated after a career that spanned from 75-83 (along with a not-so-great reunion album 12 years later), but heck, while they were around, they were a good, sometimes great, and often very capable band that deserves a little recognition on this site here. So here come the reviews....
--Nick Karn
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Man On The Silver Mountain, The Temple Of The King, Sixteenth Century Greensleeves. LOW POINTS: If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll.
It's a strange thing, but considering the circumstances in which Ritchie Blackmore left Deep Purple and the way the album is titled, this is not exactly what you'd call a showcase of guitar fireworks. Instead, it marks the beginning of the so-called 'dungeons and dragons' metal scene courtesy of the subject matter Ronnie James Dio yells about here. Well, maybe 'metal' isn't the most appropriate term for this type of stuff - in fact, the overall sound here is quite laid back, with maybe a mild funk piece there and an 'atmospheric' vibe there. The lyrics here, however, are about as D&D as could possibly be imagined, but surprisingly, they work perfectly with Dio's vocal delivery. Which brings me to another point - although this may not be as musically exciting as other Rainbow efforts, it does represent a peak in at least one aspect of their style. Simply put, nearly every one of these songs has a strong memorable hook within them, and combine that with the fact Ritchie didn't forget to bring a supply of great riffs to the sessions, this can certainly serve as an entertaining listen, regardless of the lack of energy the music might have at numerous times.
Plus, I just have to love the way the album starts off with perhaps the most defining Rainbow song ever in "Man On The Silver Mountain". I mean, it's so incredibly over the top that it's almost laughable, especially those lyrics ('I'm the sun, I'm the sun, I can move, I can run'), but there is just no getting around the fact that the main riff and vocal melodies to the song just serve as an insane amount of ass-kicking fun. Dio's vocal presence on "Sixteenth Century Greensleeves" almost makes me want to give into his silly mystical world, especially with the friggin' great pounding groove to it that works as a perfect interplay to the singing. He also brings life to the best of the subtler material on here in the form of "The Temple Of The King", as he weaves a captivating tale around a nice mellow, acoustic atmosphere and an excellently memorable, shifting vocal melody, so all those features definitely makes what could potentially be a pretty unnoticeable song gain highlight status.
Granted, these are the major highlights here, but the other songs are attractive in their own way. Even the weakest one ("If You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll") isn't quite as bad as it could have been - it's an utterly generic piece of ugh that's only saved by the fact it has more energy than the rest of the songs here, and of course the fact that Dio's singing it (it's at least a little enjoyable at the 'too late nowwwwwww' portion). And there's some more nice groove based stuff like the tight playing of "Self Portrait" (featuring that neat 'down, down, down...' spiraling refrain) and "Snake Charmer", which again, might not have too much energy, but it's made up for in melodic and instrumental substance. "Black Sheep Of The Family" might also be one of the more conventional tracks here, with not much spectacular about it, but again, the hook wins the day here - that extremely catchy chorus ('it's true what they say about familiarity...') ensures that I can never totally write it off.
Since I've gone a lot of this review without ever mentioning the guy the album's actually named after, I should probably try to deny the incorrect assumption that Blackmore doesn't really get to shine at all here. Besides the good riffs he provides as far as rhythm work goes, two of the songs feature him in the most prominent role. First of these is the slooooow atmosphere of "Catch The Rainbow", which is probably overlong by at least a couple minutes, but the solo breaks here still make it more captivating than boring. The fast closing Yardbirds cover "Still I'm Sad" also has a nice spark due to the playing - it may not be the most thrilling performance he's ever given us, but it still brings an exciting dose of guitar virtuosity that wasn't apparent before. But that's not what the main appeal of the album is, anyway, as you may have figured out. Yeah, it's not as epic as Rising, but hey, not everything can be, you know.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Stargazer, Run With The Wolf, Starstruck. LOW POINTS: None.
Apparently Ritchie wasn't all that satisfied with the lineup he had on the first effort - maybe he didn't think they were exciting enough, or probably more likely, he just didn't get along with them. So apart from Ronnie James Dio, who deservedly survives here, he picks up keyboard player Tony Carey, bassist Jimmy Bain and proficient drummer Cozy Powell. All of a sudden, this lineup shuffle causes Ritchie to think he's in an art rock band or something - around half these songs are extended to epic lengths, and even the other three more hook-based pop numbers still bear the silly Dio lyrical stamp on them, giving them an artsier feeling. And this D&D vibe is accentuated to an even greater degree than before - Rising is essentially a combination of those 'artsier' elements and the more melodic stylings of the debut, but more importantly, this is where Blackmore's playing really breaks through on a Rainbow album.
But first, let's start off with the 'shorter' compositions here. "Run With The Wolf" is probably the best of them, as it sets up a kickass power groove for Dio to sing a quite top-notch chorus over - very snappy, and of course, the soloing by Blackmore is a highpoint, but in the context of this effort, that kinda goes without saying. "Do You Close Your Eyes" is in a similar vein, with an even more straightforward approach - it's probably a bit of an underlong track, but it still has a somewhat striking refrain to it, with more vintage Dio howling and Blackmore riffing. And finally, "Starstruck" is a very enjoyable fast-paced pop song, with an extremely catchy hook that you may not be able to get out of your head for awhile ('my lady's starstruck / she's nothing but bad luck / BAD LUCK!'). Yeah, it's a little dumb, but we all need that kind of stuff in our listening experience...
Finally, to make up the meat of the album (well over half of it, in fact), we have the somewhat lengthy 'epics'. The opening "Tarot Woman" is probably not the most memorable song ever written, but the overall structure of it is quite thrilling - the futuristic keyboard intro from Tony Carey is quite a gripping way to introduce the song to us before it turns into a vintage Rainbow rocker not unlike the other such moments here, with of course more silly fantasy lyrics. The closing "Light In The Black" is another quite good bookend - it may be a little simplistic to really justify its' over 8 minute length, but even so, the fast nature of its' boneheaded riff and pace is extremely exciting for at least a few of those minutes, particularly at the show-stopping solo section (perhaps the quintessential example of Blackmore's totally breathtaking playing here).
Most quintessential of the Rising sound, though, as well as Rainbow's 'epic' side in general, is the record's serious highlight in the grand "Kashmir"-styled epic "Stargazer". Sure, it may not be as hypnotizing a classic as Led Zeppelin's original creation, but this one has a great orchestrated feeling to it which gradually rises in drama and power, with Dio doing his best to bring his utterly stupid fantasy stuff to life with conviction, whether or not the listener wants him to. I also love the vibe to this one - it almost takes the listener away into some sort of magical 'night world' drifting through the majestic starry skies. Great song! Great album, as a whole, too - the only real problems I have with it are that it seems a little too short at 34 minutes or so, and the melodies are really not as good as they were on the debut, even if the actual sound is somewhat more captivating. But still, Rising provides consistently powerful listening for fans of mid-70's hard rock, and it's an essential in that area.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Rainbow Eyes, Long Live Rock 'n' Roll, Kill The King. LOW POINTS: None.
Most people who don't consider Rising the best Rainbow ever had to offer usually say this one wins that title, and while I'm more of a Rising guy myself (Dio's style really, really works with epic bombast! Plus it has "Stargazer" on it and some of Ritchie's best guitar work ever!), this one really isn't that much weaker than its' predecessor, and it's not any less consistent either, probably their second best record as a whole. Also, like the debut, the main power of it is not necessarily the guitar work or even Dio's vocals, but actually the catchy melodies, and they're damn exciting throughout. In addition, this is probably the most Led Zeppelin-ish the band ever sounded, with Blackmore actually employing styles that are quite similar to Zep's masterpiece Physical Graffiti (yes, you heard right - but then, I also like the next album, too, and Journey, so that basically means my opinion on this stuff is moot. Forget everything I said now)
Anyway, this album certainly does live up to its' title, and not in a really dumb, generic way either - the best rockers here are really convincing bursts, and they rank up there with anything Ritchie and the gang came up with on the first two albums. The opening title track in particular is probably the single catchiest Rainbow song ever (yes, even catchier than 'I'm the sun, I'm the sun, I can move I can run'), with an extremely memorable and entertaining riff you will never ever get out of your head after a couple listens, and Dio answers that with a fantastic counterpoint melody of his own. Absolutely awesome, to the point, solo here as well. Fantastic song. You know what else is fantastic? Rainbow's attempt at hard-hitting speed metal in the studio version of the live staple "Kill The King" - needless to say, the guitar soloing totally comes alive when Ritchie plays at lightning speed, as does the vocal conviction. And I don't think I need to say anything more.
The album isn't all straightforward melodic rock, though, as easily as they could just go in that direction for an entire album. They also went out of their way to include bludgeoning funk in "L.A. Connection", whose arrangement is actually repetitive as hell, but I don't really mind - just the way that groove pounds into your head so it sticks with you (though it's dangerously close to "Run With The Wolf" in parts), and the way Dio sings it with such passion, is good enough. What would a Rainbow album be without an equivalent of "Kashmir" either, as "Gates Of Babylon" is? I personally don't think this song is quite as excellent as its' predecessor, mostly because the atmosphere and melody doesn't captivate me as much, but the interlude between verses alone, with the symphonic tinges, Dio yells and great bass work, is worth the price. I personally like their other attempt at a 'rocking' epic in "The Shed (Subtle)" more, with its' mystical, guitar led intro leading into more tight, catchy hard rock with great vocals.
With all its' virtues like I might have implied, though, this isn't quite a perfect album. Besides the Zeppelin overtones, which do become obvious after awhile, I can't remember much about the otherwise quite good while it's on "Lady Of The Lake" (yeah, another one of those fantasy workouts), and "Sensitive To Light" seems to pale in comparison to the other phenomenal fast rockers on here, but it's still good. Oh, I haven't even mentioned the highlight here yet, have I? The most atypical song for an album called Long Live Rock 'n' Roll imaginable, a very quiet, flute and violin-laden 7 minute ballad called "Rainbow Eyes", where Ronnie James Dio, get this, is singing in a gentle tone the entire way through, with no hard rocking guitars to be found (though Ritchie still pulls out more subtle fantastic passages). And that melody is absolutely gorgeous, probably the most moving of their career. I know, it shocked me hearing this too, after a half-hour of typical Rainbow music. Listening to this song caught in between that and the albums that came later on, it sounds incredibly at odds, but it's great. What a surprisingly nice swan song for the era.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Since You Been Gone, All Night Long, Eyes Of The World. LOW POINTS: Love's No Friend.
Warning! Guilty pleasure alert ahead! This is probably one of several records that giving a fairly high rating to could potentially result in a loss of 'reviewing credibility' or something like that, but I don't care - I really like this one. Yes, after Ronnie James Dio's exit from the band (yet another critical lineup change surrounding Ritchie Blackmore), Rainbow seems to be going for a more 'commercial' (bordering on sell out) approach with their new incarnation - the melodies and production are much more straightforward and generic than before. They've also got a new singer in the lineup, Graham Bonnet, that is really not far removed from the generic AOR crowd at all, but I dunno - somehow his presence really works with material like this. Most notably, though, is that the instrumental breaks throughout rule, and along with the friggin' catchy hooks of several songs, is why I can't ever knock the album, as much as I want to.
The 'guilty pleasure' vibe of the record is summed up perfectly in the opening "All Night Long". When you get right down to it, this is a completely cliched late 70's hard rock song, one that could have easily been written by Kiss, but it's a really well-played one. The way the bassline of Deep Purple's Roger Glover (who seems to have made up with Ritchie again - plus he contributes heavily to the songwriting here) gels with the ear-catching vocal melody and the energetic, entertaining vocal performance just makes me unable to resist it. The completely irresistible pop rendition of Russ Ballard's "Since You Been Gone" benefits from Bonnet being given a really great pop hook to sing, and that makes his vocal performance come alive here. Not to mention the guitar soloing again rules, as usual.
I'm already ashamed enough to admit that these are my two favorites on the album, but they even pull off the 'epic' side well here - keyboardist Don Airey contributes a fantastic intro to "Eyes Of The World", another great song that may be more highlighted by the captivating solo section (some of Blackmore's best playing, in fact, can be found here), but the melody is certainly well-developed enough to hold interest, and even the lyrics are thoughtful. I guess on the surface "Makin' Love" could be a completely filler-ish song, as its' 'dark ballad turned to rocker' mood isn't really anything that special at all, but somehow, this Rainbow lineup seems to have a talent for making those types of generic songs come alive. Or maybe I'm just an idiot who's lost most of his hearing.
The rest of the material may be more familiar Rainbow territory musically, as "Danger Zone" and "Lost In Hollywood" are standard-sounding tracks that aren't particularly great on the surface, but the instrumental ability and vocal presence on each one seem to make both come alive - Blackmore and Glover sound just as inspired as ever, and the hooks are quite good. So that leaves probably the two most 'blah' songs on the album, at least in my mind - "No Time To Lose" is a merely passable, fast-paced retro styled song, and "Love's No Friend" is just a dull slow blues that doesn't really accomplish much or establish any kind of memorability. But aside from those weak points and the overall generic mood of the album, it's very difficult for me to complain about Down To Earth too much, even if it did help take them into a much less satisfying direction.
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[on "Love's No Friend":]
Please listen to it again,...
that soul-tearing voice,...
the solo was played while violently crying in selfpity,...
I wish I had written it because it is like a template to what my life has been up to now.
That may sound the "loser alarm", but that's allright, ain't gonna fall for no lies anymore, and I guess you had to come down hard on at least one of the songs on the album to keep, as you said, your credibility...
But don't you think this is one of the best albums of the seventies ?
Yours truly, Freelance.
(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Difficult To Cure. LOW POINTS: Magic, Can't Happen Here, I Surrender.
Contrary to what some might think, it's my belief that Rainbow music fell into a bit of a bland rut not with Down To Earth, but when they replaced their one-shot singer Graham Bonnet and began the 80's with their third frontman Joe Lynn Turner on this album. Really, Difficult To Cure may not be that much more generic and cheesy than the last effort, but there are several critical things that were prominent on early albums but are painfully missing here. First off, Joe Lynn Turner just is not the kind of singer that is able to make dumb subject matter or a generic sound come to life, unlike the last two - he mostly just sounds tired throughout the whole album. Second, the overall melodic quality of the material has slipped considerably, as very few of these songs have any kind of memorable hook power. And third, where the heck is the notable playing of Ritchie and the rest of the band this time around? It's somehow become a lot less interesting!
So these factors aren't able to hide the overall cheese that prominently shows up in so many places. Oh, how this album is so aptly named - yes, a generic style can be 'difficult to cure', and such painfully pedestrian anthems like "Magic" (which pretty much defines that level of genericism, with obnoxious 'whooo's in that stupid arena chorus), the boring and cliched midtempo of "Can't Happen Here" and the really really dumb opening rocker "I Surrender", with the stupid rhymes of the title in the chorus being painful to listen to on account of Turner's vocals. The standard hard rock tracks "Spotlight Kid", "No Release" (with an obvious, but mildly fun chant of the title), "Freedom Fighter" and the synthy "Midtown Tunnel Vision" don't really fare all that much better either, even though the hooks on each are mostly decent (except for the completely unmemorable "Midtown"), which is the only thing that sort of saves these numbers at all.
Just thinking about this album makes me realize that I was far too generous with the rating last time out. Other than those three painfully dumb low points I mentioned earlier, it isn't really bad, but the overall effect is just incredibly tired and formulaic. Quite honestly, I would probably give this a 4 were it not for the two instrumental tracks here, the dramatic "Vielleicht Das Nachste Mal (Maybe Next Time)" and especially the title track, the best song on here by far. It's basically a reworking of Beethoven's 9th symphony set to a totally awesome uptempo rocker, which gives off an overall effect excellent for driving music, utilizing synths especially well along the way. I'm at least glad it comes at the close of the album so the listener can have something to look forward to, but still, other than this and a few other selected moments, Difficult To Cure is certainly not an ideal way to begin the Turner era.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Death Alley Driver, Eyes Of Fire. LOW POINTS: Tearing Out My Heart, Rock Fever.
Sorry if the word 'generic' gets thrown around a bit too easily during this era of Rainbow, but damn it, it's their fault, not mine. Yup, in many ways the second album of the Joe Lynn Turner era sounds little different from the first one - they're still relying a lot on cheesy rock cliches and straightforward songwriting throughout, and Turner's voice still always makes me feel like I'm listening to Foreigner. But this one usually gets pegged as the high point of the period for a reason, which isn't really saying much, but oh well. The songs themselves may sound incredibly dumb and generic (there's that word again!) the first time you hear them, but what really gets under your skin are the melodies they have, plus Ritchie Blackmore's excellent playing (which had seemingly disappeared on Difficult To Cure) has returned to a more ass-kicking mold. In addition to that, this is probably the most Deep Purple-ish record the band ever made, at least musically, almost to the point of foreshadowing the style Purple would take.
What are some examples of this? The pounding guitar-dominated groove of "Tite Squeeze" sounds a whole lot like Purple's similar later efforts ("One Man's Meat"), and the chord progression and feeling to "Miss Mistreated" is almost identical in places to "Knocking At Your Back Door". Could Ritchie have been recycling the riffs and melodies to the songs here years down the road? "Stone Cold" doesn't really have any particular analogy in the Purple catalog, but it definitely sounds a lot like their classic style, with its' organ-dominated verse and majestic guitar solo section. Nothing particularly spectacular (I'm also not exactly sure why this song became their biggest hit ever), but still at least catchy, if a bit sluggish. Elsewhere, the closing epic "Eyes Of Fire" does the "Kashmir" thing for the nth time, in its' orchestral keyboard arrangement, but the guitar fireworks and desperate vocals are truly among the most impressive performances in the 80's Rainbow catalog, so they more than make up for the slight tiredness.
The best Purple imitation and overall song here, though, would have to come in the form of what is essentially Rainbow's answer to "Highway Star". Yeah, the opening "Death Alley Driver" is indeed a highly exciting speedster that easily ranks as the most memorable, infectious song on the album, and the best evidence that Ritchie's still got it. As for the rest of the album, it ranges from somewhat catchy and enjoyable pop metal nuggets ("Power", "Bring On The Night") to what I would consider the two very subpar tracks on here. These include the totally non-descript "Tearing Out My Heart" and the incredibly stupid "Rock Fever" - I admit this one is very catchy, but not in a good way, what with that dumbass 'let me see you rock, let me see you roll...' chorus. Those two songs and the still overly generic sound are why I can't really call Straight Between The Eyes anything more than decent, but it's not bad at all. Oh, and try to ignore that hideously ugly album cover. It may give you nightmares.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Snowman, Street Of Dreams. LOW POINTS: Can't Let You Go.
Well, maybe the overall cheese of the approach might still be apparent here in several places, I doubt they could have come up with a more consistent and enjoyable set than this to end the Joe Lynn Turner era with the breakup of the band later on. As for the overall sound, this may not be the most substantial album imaginable, as it basically continues the AOR trend started earlier, but fortunately, it has enough slightly artsy tones and especially catchy melodies to push it to quite worthwhile status. There's also the added bonus of Blackmore bringing some soloing magic to several of these tracks, especially the two instrumentals here, and the noteworthy melodies allows Turner to bring some sort of conviction to several of the vocal songs. So yeah, it's a good swan song.
For all you 80's aficionados, there's also one of the biggest Rainbow hits in the smooth synth-flavored tune "Street Of Dreams", a sort of a precursor to the sports arena rock of "The Final Countdown", and I mean that in a good way. I really love cheesy keyboard parts that combine with great singalong choruses - so shoot me! I also get a kick out of the utterly obvious uptempo song "Fool For The Night", whose entertaining bouncy chorus melody always gets me going. The fairly cool robotic synth pop of "Desperate Heart" also functions as a guilty pleasure of sorts (with that great keyboard break and arena refrain), and the opening song "Stranded", despite a big resemblance to the Stones' "Shattered", is an energetic echoey rocker to start things off.
As for Blackmore's role in all this, he's responsible for two of the album's absolute best tracks in the instrumentals (again) - "Anybody There" and "Snowman", while not really the most memorable things in the world, are excellent sounding atmospheric pieces while they're on, with great slow keyboard melodies and guitar soloing to boot, making them excellent breaks from the mostly conventional rock throughout, particularly the latter one. But thankfully even some of the more standard songs like the classically themed "Fire Dance" and the generic Deep Purple-ish "Drinking With The Devil" are fun to listen to, and the same even goes for utterly boneheaded stuff like the closing "Make Your Move" (it's just hilarious hearing Joe Lynn Turner sing the title in such a macho manner), though the bombastic church organ starting off a stupid cheesy pop song "Can't Let You Go" is somewhat of an inadequate gesture. I can give the album a 7 for its' nice consistency, even though few of the songs jump out at me as being terribly great. It's certainly not a bad way to go out, though.
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(reviewed by Nick Karn)
HIGH POINTS: Silence, Ariel. LOW POINTS: Stand And Fight, Hunting Humans (Insatiable), Wolf To The Moon.
I suppose Ritchie again got bored with the Deep Purple experience following the end of his second appearance with the band in 1993, and he didn't have anything else better to do, so why not kickstart Rainbow again? Well, unsurprisingly, this effort just serves as a good example of why it wasn't a good idea - the sound is basically what one would expect after such a long layoff. In a grand attempt to return to the old Dio-styled version of the band, with appopriately mythical subject matter in the lyrics, it winds up sounding like a pathetic self-parody, mostly because this particular singer he chose here (Dougie White) is by far the worst Rainbow has featured, as he can't really sing with the sort of conviction that the songs need. Not that they deserve it, since there seems to be a terrible lack of melody and excitement to them, and Blackmore has now gotten to the point where, unfortunately, he just sounds like any other metal guitarist out there in his performance.
At least, however, Stranger In Us All does have some merits that prevents it from being that bad. For one thing, the production here is awesome, with all the instruments coming through in a perfectly clear, convincing mix, so much so that if you were listening to the album in the store as a test runthrough on headphones, you'd probably find a lot promise in the first few seconds of the songs or so. But only a couple songs deliver on that at all - the passionate "Ariel" comes to life courtesy of a phenomenal mix, with a nice slow build and effective backing vocals from Blackmore's 'partner' Candice Night, and "Silence" is a highly fun and reasonably hard-hitting Queen-like groove addictive enough to be the best song here. And the otherwise mediocre "Black Masquerade" has a really great middle 'medieval' section that perfectly captures the 'masquerade' title.
The rest of the songs, though, are a questionable blah. You know Ritchie's in trouble when he has to resort to recycling a song that already appeared on the debut ("Still I'm Sad") as the closing track, and it turns out to be one of the best songs here. We've got pretty parodic lyrics in the dumb "Hunting Humans (Insatiable)", a song that focuses on sex and lust (ooh...), "Stand And Fight" (an incredibly cheesy and clumsy song that features, of all things, harmonica work and a riff and groove that makes me want to sing the Saved By The Bell theme), a runthrough of "Hall Of The Mountain King" that sounds like bland power metal, and three other songs (of which "Wolf To The Moon" is the most boring) with no memorable hooks or interesting features. Sometimes the idea of a comeback album is better left to hypothetical fantasy so everyone can be spared from a boring listen like this one.
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