Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Rated X
Label: Frontiers Records
Release date: 28.11.2014
Running time: 60:51
Rating: 3.5/5
Rated X belongs on the list of intriguing musical projects that gather super rock stars under one roof. It’s a pact between old companions who have lived through and seen every era of rock, know each other inside out, and have worked together before. Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Rod Stewart, Ozzy Osbourne, Blue Murder, King Kobra), Joe Lynn Turner (solo, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force, Sunstorm), Tony Franklin (Blue Murder, Whitesnake, The Firm) and Carl Cochran (Joe Lynn Turner, Ace Frehley) are names that speak for themselves.
The basic vision was obviously to get the crew together for a classic-sounding hard rock album. Hints like that are easy to justify, given the musical backgrounds these guys come from, the careers they’ve walked and the legacy of the discography they’re part of. There’s no hide-and-seek among these hard rock (and blues) veterans. They’re seriously experienced and know each other well, so pinning down the common denominators for the musical direction of the Rated X debut was hardly rocket science.
In short: the sense of musicality is tight and front and center, which is Turner’s sensibility all over. His voice has always worked phenomenally in this kind of musical setting, as his solo studio albums prove, and the man was always the go-to for bands that wanted to tailor their sound to current trends while keeping the commercial appeal, like Rainbow did in the eighties. The blues rock premise is strongly emphasized too, which is logical and expected. The result is an album with a dense sonic picture, where the building blocks are optimally contrasted and feel alive and organic. Appice’s cannon-shot snare and crushing fills, akin to what his brother Vinny always projected, and then Bobby Rondinelli and Simon Wright as well; the strongly melodic bass line from fretless master Tony Franklin; and Cochran’s guitar phrases delivering a gorgeous mix of bluesy grit and arena rock catchiness. Turner remains one of the most fascinating singers in hard rock and one of the most recognizable voices, one that defined the sound and style of some of the most important acts of the rock era. And you can’t overlook the contribution of the excellent Bulgarian multi-instrumentalist Nokolo Kotzev, who added extra guitars to the album and delivered two guitar solos.
These seasoned players aren’t bringing anything new, just circling through the waters they know and handle best. The songs occasionally pull toward Turner’s work with Rainbow and/or Deep Purple, the parallels with his solo stuff make sense, and you won’t escape moments where Rated X reach for the famous Black Sabbath era with Tony Martin on vocals (especially the albums »Headless Cross« and »Tyr«). Even the title of the seven-minute epic, full of shifting moods and twists of motif, called Lhasa, hints that you’ll get a composition that pulls now toward Stargazer, now toward one of the hard rock epics from Black Sabbath’s »Tyr«. So it’s a realization of the classic musical philosophy of famous rockers joining forces under the Rated X banner.
»Rated X« is an album that fans of classic hard rock have long had in their collection of favorite CDs! It’s an album of proven hard rock quality, just what we expect and demand from the masters of the craft! No »earthquake tremors« hinting at any adventurous musical experimenting. Simple as that. The crew on this album know exactly where they’re strongest in ideas and expression, and where the limits of their credibility lie. So they deliver a quality, classically built hard rock album that is also very predictable in its expression. At least two songs are definitely surplus to requirements. The style is fixed, so while listening you get the feeling that the lead phrases are way too similar from song to song.
Lineup
Joe Lynn Turner: – vocals
Carmine Appice – drums
Tony Franklin – bass guitar
Karl Cochran – guitar
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Nikolo Kotzev – guitar on Maybe Tonight, Peace Of Mind, Our Love Is Not Over and guitar solos on Stranger In Us All and I Don’t Cry No More
Daniel Palmqvist – guitar on You Are The Music
Production
Alessandro Del Vecchio
Track list
1. Get Back My Crown
2. This Is Who I Am
3. Fire and Ice
4. I Don’t Cry No More
5. Lhasa
6. Devil In Disguise
7. You Are the Music
8. Peace of Mind
9. Maybe Tonight
10. On the Way to Paradise
11. Our Love Is Not Over
12. Stranger in Us All
