PlanetMosh Keeping it Metal
Frontiers boss Serafino Perugino has put together another one of his ‘supergroups’ and this time it’s a trio made up of Journey’s drummer Deen Castronova, Night Ranger’s bass player Jack Blades and former Whitesnake guitarist Doug Aldrich. Guest musician is Frontiers in house maestro Alessandro Del Vecchio, who provides the keyboards, co- songwriting and handles production, all with his expert ear for detail.
Deen Castronova handles most of the lead vocals, giving a real Journey feel to the music at times, particularly on the ballads like ‘Don’t Walk Away’, so it should come as no surprise that Journey vocalist Arnel Pineda duets on ‘You’re Not Alone’, and then surprise surprise up pops Neal Schon who plays guitar on ‘Way To The Sun’.
So is this a pseudo Journey album by the numbers? No is the short answer, as Revolution Saints have an ace, or two up their sleeve in the form of Jack Blades and Doug Aldrich.
While superbly handling drums and lead vocals Deen Castronovo is equally matched by the fluid bass playing and vocal talents of Nightranger’s Jack Blades, add the spice to the mix with the hot and fiery playing of Aldrich and you really have a utter classic of a Melodic hard rock record.
‘Back On My Trail’ is a very strong opener, with not a guest insight, the excellent vocals from Castronovo, glorious harmonies and a total revelation in Aldrich make this a killer track: It is as if Doug has been kept in a bottle, he literality explodes on this track, I haven’t really followed Aldrich since he joined Whitesnake and I found his solo’s during the last Whitesnake tour quite boring, however on this album he plays like a man reborn. I had thought he would be the weakest link in Revolution Saints,
until I heard the album, and now I know why Serafino Perugino helped to put this band together. On this album Doug lets his guitar do the talking.
‘Turn Back Time’ has Aldrich letting loose some tasty riffs, Castronova and Blades fight for top honors as they do a sing off, and the whole track just rocks along, very reminiscent of classic Night Ranger.
From the Arnel Pineda vocal on “You’re Not Alone” through to the closing ballad “In The Name Of The Father (Fernando’s Song),” this is an album full of high quality songs which would even do the mighty journey proud, where Revolution Saints excel though is when they play straightforward melodic rock, tracks like “Locked Out Of Paradise”, “Dream On” and “To Mend A Broken Heart” with its metal groove showcase the individual talents and collectively the bands greater than the sum of its parts mentality. A fantastic record which richly deserves it’s 5 star rating.
This album is not only a must for all Night Ranger, Damn Yankees, Bad English and Journey fans, it is a must have for all Melodic and hard rock fan as everything about this release oozes class. This is not a future classic; this is a current classic and will easily be in my top 10 of 2015.
Band Members.
Deen Castronovo: LeadVvocals, Drums
Jack Blades: Bass, Vocals on tracks 2 and 5.
Doug Aldrich: Guitars
Additional musicians
Alessandro Del Vecchio: keyboards, backing vocals, vocals on track 5.
Arnel Pineda – co-lead vocals on track 3
Neal Schon – guitar solo on track 5
Track List:
01. Back On My Trail
02. Turn Back Time
03. You’re Not Alone
04. Locked Out Of Paradise
05. Way To The Sun
06. Dream On
07. Don’t Walk Away
08. Here Forever
09. Strangers To This Life
10. Better World;
11. How To Mend A Broken Heart
12. In The Name Of The Father (Fernando’s Song)
Label: Frontiers Records
- £8.59
