Joe Stump’s Tower of Babel – Days of Thunder (Silver Lining Music)

 

US neoclassical maestro Joe Stump followed the steps of Malmsteen, Impellitteri and now is a vital member of ALCATRAZZ. At the same time he presents his new solo work, where he continues what he does best. Speed up versions of RAINBOW inspired songs, with excellent guitar parts and much aggressiveness. 

 

"Days of thunder' is an excellent piece of neoclassical metal with Graham Bonnet overtones at the voice of the gifted Jo Amore, a typical,yet substantial neo classical thunder.He gathered a band of seasoned and capable musicians who know how to perform speed, melodic,neoclassical metal without losing the feeling, Jo Amore on vocals , Mark Cross (drums, backing vocals), Mistheria (keyboards), Nic Angileri (bass). “Blind Are Your Eyes” has a WHITESNAKE /VIRGIN STEELE feeling at their more passionate, slow burning times and its a nice deviation from the fast speed, fretwork of Stump, giving his band a chance to loosen up and be more atmospheric. "Alone in the desert" has the famous middle east sentiment that was introduced to us by Mr Blackmore and Stump knows how to strip it down to its basic, more dark and metallic form, a slow,mid tempo, scorpion who waits for the right moment to sting you. Next song "In the heat of the night" is a fine example of how melodic rock tries to be bit catchy, reminding Impellitteri ,especially at the vocal harmonies, of the chorus, a nice attempt to be "commercial" with a catchy riff.

Sacrifice" is an in your face, neoclassical metal song, nothing to remember, nothing to forget, a decent in your face attack."Trust me" is a slow, monstrous, in the vein of "Mistreated", with a crawling, blood thirsty riff and a groovy rhythm section, delivering a heavy rock cornerstone for the album.Closing track, is another 70s (RAINBOW infused) hard rocker with some great Hammond addition and a nice up tempo ace that gives Stump another chance to deploy his guitar shredding talents. 

 

Overall , a recommended album for fans of RAINBOW, IMPELLITTERI, ALCATRAZZ, Malmsteen and neoclassical metal in general, with nice, memorable compositions and solid performances.

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