Having had successful stints with Judas Priest and Iced Earth, I always thought Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens was shafted good and proper when it all came to down to it in those bands and also the material that he was given to sing on was not really up to scratch, meaning, he was not able to display his full vocal range to good effect. Now he releases his first actual solo album written partly by himself, but there are a lot of guest musicians and collaborations on this CD that’s makes things rather interesting.
I wonder whether there is perhaps some irony in the first track ‘Starting Over’? Ripper is making his mark in the metal market for his own work pure and simple. Co-written and performed with Bob Kulick and also playing host to a who’s who of metal on the track, namely Simon Wright (Drums – ex-AC/DC) and Rudy Sarzo (ex-Whitesnake Dio and Ozzy), there is a mid-tempo Ronnie James Dio feel about this and he certainly emulates the man very well. I must admit I was expecting a fully charged fast metal attack on the opening two tracks at least, you do get a good feel of Tim’s vocal range that is spot on, but the music is of the same sort of tempo as that of the new Heaven and Hell album. That aside, reading the PR info with this CD, that’s exactly the right era and style of metal that Tim has based this first solo record upon, so we are in good company. Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis provides a tantric metal solo on ‘The Cover Up’. This one deals with the cover up of “alleged” alien landings on earth. Solely written by Tim, this one kicks ass pretty good. Other dazzling tracks include ‘Death Race’ and ‘The World is Blind’. Its not that hard to get good tracks when you have Ripper’s great vocal talents playing along side legends such as Billy Sheehan (Talas, Mr Big), Bruce Kulick (ex-Kiss/Union) and the guitar talent of Chris Caffery on ‘The Shadows are Alive’. The vocals are top notch, the music is also fantastic, this is a really solid album.
Although it will probably not get as much acclaim in the press that the new Heaven and Hell album is getting, this album is pretty much from the same musical songbook and has the same quality; perhaps he should have got Tony Iommi in as another guest musician! Tim invites you to play his game and to be honest, it’s more exciting than all your X-boxes and Wii’s put together; play the game indeed and you will become a winner. Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens can certainly write some excellent tunes, a welcomed return to the metal arena.
http://www.timripperowens.com
http://www.spv.de
