German musicians, Carsten
'Lizard' Schulz (Dead End Heroes, Frozen
Rain, Lavalle, Evidence One, Midnite
Club) on lead vocals, Rami Ali (Freedom
Call, Iron Mask, Lavalle, Frontline,
Evidence One) on drums and the bass
player Vincent De Laat, who also
participated in the Frozen Rain sessions
and Rik’s long time friend Geert Margodt
on keyboards are Rik Priem's members on
his solo album debut. Rik himself is a
Belgian musician and over the years Rik has had
the curiosity to explore music, which led him
to listen to a variety of styles ranging
from Hard Rock to Blues and from Fusion
to classical pieces. His passion for the
guitar grew even stronger with the years
and he developed his own technique to
play the instrument. Joining a band and
composing original music seemed like a
natural move for Rik, so he began
writing instrumental songs and playing
with various local bands. In 2000, after
years of working on his skills:
playing, tuning and repairing guitars, Rik finally decided to make a living out
of his love for the guitar and became a
professional guitar teacher and guitar
technician.
This album is shaking my spine
and if you love guitar based hard rock
with groovy riffing and excellent vocals
this is something you gotta get your
hands on. Close to one hour of high
class hard rock is what Carsten, Rik and
c/o is giving us. Rik's guitar playing is
very close to the guitar legend Jake E
Lee, but this album is much better than
Jake Lee's new solo disc. Very melodic
rock tunes with an mature sound. It
steams of 80's rock/metal feelings and
Def Leppard, Dokken, Bon Jovi,
Scorpions, Whitesnake, Van Halen appears in my head. Positive energies
fill my body with joy and my thirst for
rapid guitars and straight forward
melodic hard rock to my summer party is
found here.
This album will spin several
times this summer. I can't find
one single filler track and the quality
level is way above average. Is this one
of this years strongest hard rock
albums?? Maybe so, if you ask me. One of
the strongest debut albums I've heard
this year anyway. Just listen to the
instrumental song 'Chameleon'!!! A
masterpiece.
This can't be a "one album
project". I'm sold and want more, much
more. I can't give them anything else
but a top score.
Line up:
Vocals : Carsten 'Lizard' Schulz
Guitars : Rik 'Mr. Cool' Priem
Keyboards: Geert 'Mister G' Margodt
Bass : Vincent De Laat
Drums : Ramy Ali
