Ronny Munroe will of course be known to many of you as the singer in the last incarnation of Metal Church. His capable vocals graced the albums Weight Of The World, A Light In The Dark and, most recently, This Present Wasteland during his time with the now sadly disbanded Seattle metal masters. Unsurprisingly his first full length solo effort – following on from the Internal Quest EP of 2007 – is rooted in very similar territory to that of his one time employers.
The Fire Within opens with ‘Far’, a driving piece of energetic melodic metal that really starts things with a bang. I would like to be able to say that ‘Far’ sets the tone for what follows but unfortunately it represents the album’s peak. That’s not say that Ronny has produced an album full of duds as there are other highlights to be found. ‘Rebuild The Ruins’ has some nice riffs and rhythms and reveals itself as a song of some stature and grandeur, the big power ballad ‘Across The Sea Of Souls’ has shades of latter day Maiden and doesn’t fall far short of brilliance and ‘Desperate Man’ with its quality guitar solo is a genuinely fine track.
The problem is that too many of the tracks in between these diamonds illicit little more response than a shrug of the shoulders and a mumbled ‘yeah…it’s ok.’ That being said the album has grown on me with repeated listens and it certainly goes some way to easing the pain of Metal Church’s passing. Ronny is a fine singer and a man with the drive to push on and make even better albums in the future – if his considerable talents aren’t snapped up by a band before he gets the chance. Fans of Metal Church, Omen, Jag Panzer and US power metal in general should find plenty to enjoy on this album, especially in those stand out tracks I’ve already mentioned.
http://www.myspace.com/ronnymunroe
