Artist: Moonstone Project 
   Title: Time To Take A Stand
   Label: Majestic Rock

The Moonstone Project is the ambitious creation by Matt Filippini an Italian guitarist who has performed with Deep Purple’s Ian Paice’s European club band for quite some time.  It was during this time that Matt played some songs he had written to Paice, who was so impressed with what he heard, said he would love to be part of the project.

Next to join was former Deep Purple vocalist and the voice of rock Glenn Hughes who set the ball rolling for the likes of Eric Bloom, Graham Bonnet, James Christian, Kerry Keeling, Paul Shortino, and Steve Walsh to join in on the Moonstone Project.  Even Carmine Appice makes a guest appearance on one track with Matts ‘core’ band of musicians Nik Mazzucconi on bass, Gianluca Tagliavini on keys and Alex Mori on drums.

With the combined talents of some of the biggest names and best-known vocalist in rock, would the album live up to its reputation?  The answer is an emphatic yes.

The album opens up with ‘Slave Of Time’ with Kerry Keeling doing the honours on vocals and what a job he does, and the quality of Filippini guitars is there for all to hear.  Next is the mighty vocal talent of Graham Bonnet that lends itself to the rockier ‘Not Dead Yet’, another quality tune from Filippini.

‘Fire & Water’ sees the Italians take over on this song with the vocals being sung by Enrico Madideni, who gives this cover of the Free song new life and clarity.

The voice of rock Glenn Hughes takes the lead on ‘Rose In Hell’, a song that was written with Hughes’s vocals in mind and with Ian Paice laying down the drums on this one, the rest just fits into place with Filippini’s bluesy guitars riffs shining through and a quite nostalgic bit of Hammond organ bringing that Deep Purple feel to the whole track.

Now its time for one of my all time favourite vocalists Mr James Christian to make his mark on the album, with the bluesy theme continuing with ‘Beggar Of Love’.

Hughes makes a second appearance on the album with his considerable vocal talent laying waste to ‘Where Do You Hide The Blues You’ve Got’.  With the vast array of vocal talent at his disposal, it takes a class act to top what has been before and that is what you get on ‘City Limits’ with the unmistakable tones of Steve Walsh, a track that wouldn’t go amiss on any Kansas album, great stuff.

Things get a little rocky with another of my favourite vocalists Paul Shortino lending his intense tones to ‘Pictures Of My Lonely Days’, another stylish piece of classic rock with the Hammond organ making another appearance and with Carmine Appice doing what he does best on the drums this is a monster track.

The album closes with ‘On The Way To Moonstone’ which see Eric Bloom lay down the vocals to this down trodden blues track, complete with orchestral backing and some wicked guitars from Filippini, and ends a quite excellent piece of blues ridden classic rock, an album that all of the artists appearing on it should be proud of. 

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