One of Ozzy's best and most
talented guitarist was Jake E. Lee and
he was playing on two of The Prince of
Darkness's albums in the magic mid-80's:
"Bark at the Moon" and "Ultimate Sin",
which ares 2 amazing metal albums and
especially the great string work from
Jake. After some problems (drug and
alcohol related) with Oz and Sharon,
they fired him from the band and made a
giant mistake (in my world anyway), because
the unique and magic guitar sound, which
Jake gave the band is something I've missed on Ozzy's albums after that.
After his journey with
the Osbornes, he started the blues based
hard rock band Badlands in -89 and they
released three studio albums. Since the
end of the 90's he has kept a very low
profile until now! Red Dragon Cartel
is his new project and I am thrilled and
happy about this exciting release. In
the first track 'Deceived', I recognize
the catchy guitar riffs and loops, which
I've been missing so much for so many years.
Marvelous! It feels like I went through a
time machine and is back in the good old
80's again, because this track could
been qualified to be on the "Bark at the
Moon" album. Dazzling guitar solo's and
excellent vocals is this a party track
with über positive moods. A perfect
opening track!
In 'Shout It Out' it sounds
little darker and harsher. More in a
sort of a modern metal mode, but groovy
as hell. The third track 'Feeder' is
maybe the best song on the album. Robin
Zander (Cheap Trick) features on vocals
in this song and Jake gives us some stunning
guitar moments. These three opening songs are by far the best tunes
on the self titled debut album and if
this was an EP with only these tracks,
my score should be high as the sky.
Sadly is this album not a future
classic hard rock debut album. It
doesn't keep my interest all the way.
The middle part of the songs don't attract me so
much as I wanted, but in 'Waysted' with
Paul Di Anno on vocals, my interest
comes back; it's always nice to
hear Paul's thorn voice. Black Sabbath,
doom heavy track 'War Machine' is also
worth some positive words.
Jake puts some magic string
bending in every track, but the overall
impression is that this is a
brand new start of his return to the big
stages again (hopefully). To all of us, who played
air guitar to 'Center of Eternity',
'Bark at the Moon' and 'The Ultimate
Sin', 'Shot In the Dark' and so on; this
is something for us to check out!!
I will be in the front row this summer
when Red Dragon Cartel comes to Sweden
Rock Festival anyway!
Red Dragon Cartel:
Guitar: Jake E Lee.
Bass: Ronnie Mancuso.
Vocals: Darren James Smith.
Drums/Vocals: Jonas Fairley
