Hard 20 |
Brazen Abbot"Guilty as Sin" Brazen Abbot was put together by Bulgarian guitarist/composer Nikolo Kotzev (this is his fourth album with this project), and is a supergroup of sorts, featuring the talents of many well known hard rock personalities, including Joe Lynn Turner (former vocalist for Rainbow, Deep Purple, and Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force), as well as two other signers, Goran Edman and Jorn Lande (both of whom have worked with many well known bands), and three former members of Europe, bassist John Leven, drummer Ian Haughland, and keyboardist Mic Michaeli. It is somewhat fitting that Turner is part of the group because they are very influenced by the three aforementioned groups he used to sing for. A good name for this band could have been "Purple Rainbow Force", and that is certainly not meant in a bad way. The whole group is very talented and have made a very good classic style hard rock album here. Nikolo's guitar playing is excellent and very influenced by Ritchie Blackmore and Yngwie Malmsteen, and he oil slicks his way across his fret board. I wasn't too familiar with the other two vocalists, but Turner sings in his usual way, his voice silky and smooth, but also gutsy and powerful. The three "Europeans" also do well at their respective jobs (as they always have), Mic playing 70's style Hammond keys, as used by Purple and Rainbow back in the day. Most of the songs are driving rock tunes with good guitar work (riffin' a plenty and some cool solos). The album closes with the title track, which is nine minutes long. It is a Zeppelin influenced number with some trippy guitar effects at the end. There are also three ballads, "I'll Be Free", "Bring The Colors Home", and "Eve", all very Richard Marx, but the latter also had a bit of "Silent Lucidity" (by Queensryche) in it. With a bunch of musicians of this caliber playing on the same album together, one would (and should) expect a top notch rock album, and that is what he have here! Everything on "Guilty..." is very well done, the singing, the playing, the songwriting...Fans of Blackmore, Malmsteen, all their respective bands, and classic style hard rock in general, should definitely enjoy this! |