Dokken- New and Improved!
Written: Jun 06 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great riffs, solos, and choruses
Cons: Very tough to find
The Bottom Line: Fans of groove hard rock/old school heavy metal should be grinning ear to ear. While Limp Bisquick tops the charts, these underdogs deserve infinitely more attention.
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| metalking's Full Review: Answer to the Master by Impellitteri |
Impellitteri- probably a group only heard of by literally a handful of people outside the power metal world. Imagine Dokken a bit heavier and with a blazingly fast lead guitarist that could rival Yngwie Malmsteen. I’ve read on a few sites that this is a Christian band, which I probably could’ve guessed from titles such as “Answer to the Master,” but it doesn’t take away from the heavy metalness. I only hope that someone who enjoys this review actually gets a chance to find a CD- Impellitteri CDs are quite rare, especially this album (I had to have this one air-mailed from Canada.) On to the review!
1. The Future is Black- Starts out with a short drum intro/solo, and then gets right into a groove with a very solid riff and beat. The singer, Rob Rock, hits all the right notes while still sounding aggressive. Awesome guitar crunch production, and the chorus is sonically flawless. You’ll be singing “The Future is Black” in no time, and while the guitar solo isn’t the best on this CD, it’ll nonetheless give you a nice taste of the hot licks to come.
2. Fly Away- Possibly Impellitteri's best, as has been argued on a few sites. A great intro solo/riff kicks things off, and then switches to a solid Dokken/Savatage style riff. Fans of vocal layering will love this song! Again, the chorus is totally singable. The solo mows everything down, rips everything to shreds, and accomplishes everything Malmsteen wants to but just can’t- play a blazingly fast scale while at the same time having it fit the song instead of the song forced into a structure to fit the solo. The end takes the form of a perfect Savatage-style vocal layering reminiscent of Jon Olivia’s rock operas. Great end to a great song.
3. Warrior- Great Dokken-style riff gets your attention right away. The verse starts off fairly quickly, and the guitar work at first is a bit spacey, but things take off before long. Yet another great sing-along chorus. “I’m a Warrior, take my hand…I’m a soldier under his command.” It’s very 80s sounding, but in all the right ways. Yet another great solo that serves the song, not the other way around.
4. I’ll Wait- Almost every heavy metal CD that isn’t death metal has to slow down at some point, and here we have the ballad. An acoustic-electric guitar starts off with some okay vocal work. It almost seems skippable until one minute passes by and we’re treated to a great rock groove. The singing is a little whiny but it serves the song decently. 2/3 of the way through, a jazzy acoustic-electric solo plays over under the drum beat- interpret it how you want.
5. Hold the Line- Back into rocking grooves! Again, reminds me a bit of Dokken. Pretty straight-forward rocker. A very different solo in the middle that’s hard to put into words, but effective.
6. Something’s Wrong with the World Today- Ehh…the opening intro never really stuck to me. It’s a bit busy and the vocals go down a weird scale that’s very typical of “filler songs.” Not a horrible song, but the musical ideas seem forced.
7. Answer to the Master- The title song plays a Motörhead-esque riff and starts the verse almost right away. Nothing that hasn’t been said before: singable chorus, awesome solo.
8. Hungry Days- Interesting twin guitar intro. If there’s any criticism I have against this band, it’s that their “rocker” songs don’t play around enough with instrumental intros and instead rush to start the vocals, as opposed to some Symphony X songs that don’t have the singer come in until three to four minutes has passed.
9. The King is Rising- Intro riff, riff with drums, verse. By the time this song spins around, this rocker formula is a bit stale, and the lyrics aren’t the best of the disc: “Every morning on the evening news I hear the same ol’ story someone singing the blues…” sound hokey?
All in all, though, I tend to get overly-analytical and critical when I write reviews, although I think it serves the reader better, and I thoroughly enjoy playing this album in my truck. It was well worth the $24 and I hope anyone else who can find some Impellitteri on the net to hear this stuff (calm down, RIAA, this isn’t even in print anymore, finding some mp3s to get into this band is perfectly reasonable) can get a copy of this album. Rock on!
Recommended:
Yes
Great Music to Play While: Driving
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Epinions.com ID:
metalking
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Location: Midwest
Reviews written: 7
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
Studying recording engineering. Proficient in guitar, piano, vocals.
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