One wonder
why an album originally released in 1991 by a rather unknown band from Texas is
being re-mastered and re-packaged with a very cheesy cover and an hour long
video material? Michael Harris is the answer to the question. Guitarist virtuoso
and the main man behind many cool bands from Texas, his latest adventure
Darkology has a brilliant new album coming out soon on
Rock-a-holics
Records.
Arch
Rival was where he tested the more straight forward and simple material
compared to many of his later projects, and even though the result is not half
bad, I can also understand why they never managed to rise above the masses. They
do sound like so many other bands from around that time, like Dokken, XYZ,
Hurricane and Dangerous Toys, and they fit right in the grey area somewhere
between hard rock and sleaze metal, like so many others...
Biggest
problem is that the catchy tunes really aren't that catchy and the songs do not
stick like glue and the album does not leave a lasting memory. It's all well
written, produced and played, Michael is a great guitarist and his talent is
already at this early stage of his career obvious. But again is there really a
big demand for this album?
