Artist: Rock, Rob
Label: AFM Records
Release: 2007
“Garden Of Chaos” is the fourth studio album from a man whose music career reaches way back before his debut “Rage Of Creation” (2000). For a quick refresher, before going solo Rob Rock did his time as the lead singer of acts like Impellitteri, Axel Rudi Pell and Warrior, and among other things his vocals front the super project M.A.R.S. (MacAlpine, Aldridge, Rock, Sarzo), which put out the record “Project: Driver”. So this is a highly respected singer with a wealth of experience who feels right at home in hard rock too, always backed by top-notch instrumentalists.
Garden Of Chaos also serves up the best that Rob Rock can give us, even what we expect from him. Rock-solid melodic heavy metal lumberjacking, nothing less and nothing more. Predictable, formulaic, worn-out, replicated endless times. But watch out. This album showcases playing and singing with a full set of balls. The guys play the “all or nothing” card the whole way through. They manage to convince 100% on that front, and the fourth studio album comes across as absolutely thrilling. Rob Rock the singer gives it his max, and the songs’ melodies are tuned to squeeze every last drop out of the melody, combined with the eruptive, explosive power of the vocals.
Rob Rock has two key people on his team who shape the all-encompassing figuration of his songs more than anyone. The first handles the epic bombast of crafting big melodies, built on his school of Scandinavian guitar playing. That’s Carl Johann Grimmark, otherwise the guitarist of Narnia. Practically the entire Narnia lineup is with Rock on the new album (minus their singer Christian Rivel, of course). On that front “Garden Of Chaos” gives them a chance to maybe step out of the eternal shadow of being overlooked, though Rob Rock keeps fending off the very same problem. Grimmark brings hair-splittingly polished solos and a fantastic feel for setting up and executing a punchy, flowing, high-vibrating riff you befriend in an instant. The second guy, Roy Z., makes sure the white-hot steel never, ever cools down and that the songs get a highly atmospheric tinge, with the chopping block of the final apocalypse looming over the listener the whole time. In the production he keeps the recordings alive and authentic, with no castration by excessive studio polish, so the whiff of naivety that “power” metal so often slips into these days through too much studio control completely fails to show up in Rob Rock’s case. Given the Roy Z factor, you won’t shake the similarities, at least energy-wise, in the moods captured on certain tracks, to the solo records of Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden). The atmosphere of the main riff in This Time Is The Last Time or Only Matter Of Time comes dangerously close, for example. Millenium Reign, one of the fastest songs on the album, is pure Narnia, masterfully upgraded by Rob Rock’s vocals. Apart from two ballads, this is an album that runs at a high tempo for the rest of its runtime and doesn’t let up for a second. Wherever there are no vocals, the space is carefully filled with three-part harmonies (hellish shredding over the riffs) or brilliant trade-offs of split solos between the guitarists.
Rob Rock steers through the forging of melody verse by verse, victorious all the way. His vocals are maximally polished, with an incredible explosiveness that stays intact (and, most importantly) even when all that power has to be carried from the mid-range up to the highest registers. In that department Rob Rock sounds a lot fresher and better preserved than his contemporary Dickinson does today. So, more convincing than the enthusiastic pilot, who is creatively stagnating these days, trapped in the overly artsy flawlessness of Iron Maiden, who haven’t put out anything much since “X Factor” (1995), plus, of course, an insatiable greed for cash. The choruses on “Garden Of Chaos” are all killer-bombastic, with a great touch of drama. They carry extreme catchiness that simply shines brilliantly under Rock’s handling. Rob Rock’s vocals really never stop impressing as you move from track to track. For the uninitiated it would be hard to find a comparison to slot Rob Rock’s singing style into, but let’s say his voice is a kind of mix of Bruce Dickinson with the mature intonation of Graham Bonnet (Alcatrazz, Rainbow, Impellitteri,…), with a dash of the dark drama of the late Carl Albert (ex-Vicious Rumours) thrown in.
The record’s only slip-up comes right at the very end. Two ballads are lined up back to back there, Unconditional and Ode To Alexander. Neither of them flops, in case you’re afraid they might be wrapped in a sugary, whiny blend of pathos, but what does happen with ballads placed like this is that the finish of otherwise relentless, white-hot metal racket gets noticeably watered down energy-wise.
Otherwise there’s not much more to add. A top-class crew put together top-class songs, one after another, with none of them working as filler or album padding (or minute-stealing). Despite the formulaic approach, the high predictability and being stylistically out of step with what’s trendy, this crew with Rob at the helm smashes every chance of “Garden Of Chaos” ever landing on a music critic’s hit list. The genuine touch of metal that Rob and his crew paint has a charisma all its own, and it works with a fatal attraction.
Lineup
Rob Rock – vocals
Carl Johan Grimmark – guitar, backing vocals
Andreas Olsson – bass, backing vocals
Andreas Johansson – drums
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Roy Z – guitar, bass
Mistheria – keyboards
Liza Rock – keyboards, backing vocals
Gus G – guitar on Ride the Wind* (*Japanese edition only)
Bob Rossi – guitar on track no. 7
Peter Hallgren – guitar solo on tracks no. 3 & 8
Bobby Jarzombek – drums on track 4 and Ride The Wind* (*Japanese edition only)
Production
Carl Johan Grimmark & Roy Z
Tracklist
01. Garden of Chaos
02. Satan’s Playground
03. Savior’s Call
04. This Time is the Last Time
05. Only a Matter of Time
06. Spirit in the Sky
07. Metal Breed
08. Millennial Reign
09. Unconditional
10. Ode to Alexander
Album length: 42.16
