|
Artist: Driver |
|
|
When you mention the names of Rob Rock and Roy Z you immediately associate the pair as individual artists with different paths, Rock as a great vocalist and Z as one of the most sought after rock producers around. But the pair were once part of one of the most underrated hard rock acts around never to produce an album in the late 80’s. Now the record is about to be set straight as the pair have rekindled the Driver name and are releasing the bands album that should have followed the 1987 M.A.R.S. debut album 'Project:Driver'. The tracks have been totally rerecorded and five original Driver demos plus seven new tracks. As well as Rock and Z the band also includes original Driver drummer Reynold 'Butch' Carlson, with Aaron Samson on bass duties and completing the line-up Ed Roth on keyboards. A good rock track will endure the test of time and the five tracks on original demo’s certainly do just that and mixed together with the seven new tracks, you can't help but feel that had the band been given the right breaks, then they could have been the Iron Maiden of their time with this album. The album gets underway with the intro ‘Titans Of Speed’ before things really get going with ‘I’m A Warrior’, a song that reminds me very much of Dokken but with a more harder edged sound. Rob Rock again fills the album with soaring Hard Rock vocals and with Roy Z simply burning the fret board with some superb licks, this album rock from the off and doesn’t come up for breath until the last note is played. The album continues with a great track ‘Fly Away’, again Z gets things going on this one, a song that has an almost Power Metal feel about it, with the orchestra like keyboards just in the background and the heady bass and drums fuelling the fire and of course the vocals of Rock. ‘Hearts On Fire’ again shows why Rock has been involved with some of the biggest names around and why his solo material is so popular. This again is a towering track that has touches of Dio and Black Sabbath (the Tony Martin years). The title track ‘Sons Of Thunder’ is very Iron Maidenesque as Rock again shows what a versatile vocal force he really is, this is pure old school Arena Hard Rock, big guitars, a monster back beat all wrapped around Rocks massive vocal presence. One of my favourite tracks off the this monster album has to be ‘Never Give Up’ a great slice of Melodic Hard Rock as Rock brings it down a touch and shows a more mellow side to his vocals, once again the guitar playing by Z on this one is second to none. The band stay with the more gentile sound with the tremendous ballad ‘Change Of Heart’ before picking it back up again with the brilliant ‘Dark Wood’, again this one has that solid Melodic Metal feel, so does ‘Winds Of March’ both great tracks. This is a high quality release as you would expect with Rock and Z at the helm, there is so much to take in the great Hard Rock tracks mixed with the more Melodic Rock tracks and one of those great Melodic Rock tracks has to be the tremendous ‘Only Love Can Save Me Now’. Things are really picked up with the funky bass ridden style of ‘Tears That I Cry’ before the album closes with another stirring ballad this time ‘I Believe In Love’, tears at the heart strings. It's hard to believe these songs have been sitting around for so long, they deserved to be aired to the masses so let's hope that this isn’t the last we hear from Driver and more albums of this quality follow in the not to distant future.
|
|
|
Tracklisting:
|
|
|
All content copyright of The Mayfair Mall Zine unless otherwise stated. |
|