A New Revenge ‘Enemies & Lovers’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Golden Robot Records/Hard Rock
Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens is actually one of the busiest men in heavy metal, never content to work on just one project. The former Judas Priest frontman has already released one album this year with his project with Chris Caffery, Spirits Of Fire; but never content to relax on his laurels, Owens has once more teamed up with Rudy Sarzo, James Kottak and Keri Kelli and expanded Project Rock into the band A New Revenge with the band putting out their debut album ‘Enemies & Lovers’.
As Project Rock has segued silently into A New Revenge, there is an air of expectation, not just of the sound, but also the quality of the output based on the calibre of these members. Fans of Project Rock will be happy to know that A New Revenge fits the bill perfectly, ‘Enemies & Lovers’ is an enjoyable mix of pop inspired hard rock, that occasionally touches on something a little heavier. Tracks such as the roaring opener ‘The Distance Between’ is Owens at his supersonic finest, whilst the tracks ‘Never Let You Go’ and ‘Fallen’ show the band delivering a sound that would appeal to fans of Foo Fighters and contemporary Bon Jovi with its pseudo pop/rock all delivered through a polished sheen. Moreover, this is taken further with during the song ‘Glorious’ which even has all the guilty addictiveness of ‘Boys of Summer’. Yet, all this pop nature is juxtaposed by the creepy tinkerings of ‘Only The Pretty Ones’ which brings some Alice Cooper style vaudeville horror to this album and it works exceptionally well.
However, for fans of Ripper Owens’ standard heavy metal releases, ‘Enemies & Lovers’ will take some getting used to and may not appeal to every fan of the heavy metal banshee. But, within a few listens, ‘Enemies & Lovers’ may just become one of the feel-good rock albums of the summer.
Rating : 78/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
