But I can't say all of that without having something to work with involving the guy's music.
At the end of the day, I have to be a critic. And, speaking as a critic, nothing Owens has done has really won me over on the guy as a musician. I will be fair, he wasn't really to blame for his work with Judas Priest and Iced Earth, as he barely wrote anything for those bands, but I never really liked the first Charred Walls Of The Damned album (it just wasn't my kind of thing) and, while I do really like "Scream Machine" off of the Beyond Fear album, the rest of the stuff I've heard from that album just left me going "Meh" at best. It's honestly rather frustrating and kind of sad that I can't give the guy the credit he deserves, but I can't triumph the guy if I don't feel like he's giving me something to triumph. Being a nice guy in the music industry doesn't mean anything if your music isn't worth listening to.
This album arguably cements that fact. There are a ridiculous number of guest performers on this album, which at least shows that Owens has a lot of connections in the industry, but the record itself...well, I'll break it down more in the actual review, but I will say that this isn't going to be an especially positive review. So, if you're a fan of Owens as a vocalist and want me to triumph the guy...I'm really sorry, but I can't do that. So I wouldn't blame you for closing this page down on your web browser right here and not reading the rest of this review.
...Anyone still reading this?
Good.
Let's start with the artwork. I'm going to let you look at the artwork before I give my thoughts on it, as I think you will be able to spot a lot of the issues I'm going to point out.
So, let's start with that sticker. You might be thinking that's something that someone forgot to remove from the cover before taking the picture, but you'd be wrong: I can assure you that it is actually part of the artwork for the album. Yes, they actually want you to know that Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio and ex-Whitesnake guitarist), Chris Caffery (ex-Savatage and Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist), Rudy Sarzo (ex-Ozzy Osbourne, ex-Quiet Riot and ex-Whitesnake bassist...and was also part of Geoff Tate's version of Queensryche, but I'm trying to forget that one ever happened!), Steve Stevens (guitarist for Billy Idol), Billy Sheeran (ex-David Lee Roth, Mr. Big and The Winery Dogs bassist), Jeff Loomis (ex-Nevermore guitarist) and Michael Wilson (Queensryche and Soulbender guitarist), to name the ones on the sticker, played on the album. Here's where problem number one comes up: for a solo album by Tim Owens, there's a distressingly large amount of star power on here which could easily outstrip that of Owens' own. While singing for Judas Priest is a pretty impressive task, there's so much star power on here that it's very possible to forget that Owens is meant to be the main attraction, and advertising everyone else on the cover seems to be a very poor way to keep that focus on him. It'd be roughly the same thing that you'd expect to see happen if Kai Hansen (to pick a name that power metal fans will recognise, but most mainstream music fans won't) decided to release a solo album, got Maroon 5 to be his backing band and then put on the cover "With backing from Maroon 5". I know, extreme example that would never happen, but you see the point I'm making? If you're making a solo album under your own name and you're not the most recognisable name on the album, then something is terribly wrong.
The second issue is the art style. I get that it's going for a retro style like what you see on flyers back in the 80's or some interestingly shaded comics, but it just looks crap on the cover art for a metal album. It's fairly distinctive in terms of the style, but I just don't think it works very well for what Owens is trying to do. The background colour combination of red and...I think it is meant to be either dark red or brown? Anyway, it just doesn't work very well and makes things look kind of lazy. I will give credit for one thing, though: I like the little touches in the artwork which you can see if you look closely. I just think a better colour combination would have made it a bit better.
So, that's the artwork. But what about the music?
Well, before I start actually providing my thoughts on the music, let me provide you with the line up for every track. This might seem like padding, as most of the guys don't give performances that live up to their names, but I want to highlight just how criminally underused some of these musicians are.
Track 1: "Starting Over"
- Guitar: Bob Kulick
- Bass: Rudy Sarzo
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Lead Guitar: Craig Goldy
- Rhythm Guitar: John Comprix
- Bass: Rudy Sarzo
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Lead Guitar: Jeff Loomis
- Rhythm Guitar: John Comprix
- Bass: James Lomenzo
- Drums: Brett Chassen
- Lead Guitar: Steve Stevens
- Rhythm Guitar: Bob Kulick
- Rhythm Guitar: Mike Callahan
- Bass: Dennis Hayes
- Drums: Ray Luzier
- Lead Guitar: Carlos Cavazo
- Rhythm Guitar: Mike Callahan
- Bass: Rudy Sarzo
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Lead Guitar: Bruce Kulick
- Rhythm Guitar: Bob Kulick
- Bass: Billy Sheeran
- Drums: Brett Chassen
- Lead Guitar: Doug Aldrich
- Rhythm Guitar: John Comprix
- Bass: Billy Sheeran
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Rhythm & Lead Guitar: Michael Wilton
- Rhythm Guitar: Bob Kulick
- Bass: David Ellefson
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Rhythm Guitar: Bob Kulick
- Bass: Tony Franklin
- Drums: Bobby Jarzombek
Track 10: "Play My Game"
- Lead Guitar: Neil Zaza
- Rhythm Guitar: John Comprix
- Bass: Rudy Sarzo
- Drums: Simon Wright
- Guitar: John Comprix
- Bass: James Lomenzo
- Drums: Brett Chassen
- Guitar: Chris Caffery
- Bass: Marco Mendoza
- Drums: Simon Wright
There's also a bonus track on iTunes which adds Vinny Appice (on drums) to the list of names I've provided.
ON PAPER, that's a brilliant line up of musicians, with a huge amount of star power to take Owens to the next level.
But, unfortunately, Owens is the one in the driving seat: he wrote or co-wrote every song on this album. While he did not produce the album (Brett Chassen and Bob Kulick did), you can safely assume that all of the musicians were just playing what Owens wrote.
And there's no way to sugarcoat this: he's not a great songwriter and doesn't play to his strengths.
You remember me mentioning earlier that I'm not fond of the tone of Owens' natural singing voice? Well, that is what he mostly sticks with for this album. He rarely goes for his falsetto, so you don't get to hear him screaming like a motherfucker as he really should be doing, but trying to sing in a natural singing voice that I find grating to listen to. Some people say he sounds like Dio on steroids, but I think that saying that is an insult to the memory of one of the greatest metal singers of all time: Owens does not sound ANYTHING like Dio, and even DARING to imply that Owens can do what Dio did better than Dio did is practically sacri-fucking-legious!
...Well, OK, I'll be fair, Owens does clearly have some influence from Dio in his natural singing voice. But no fucking way is he Dio on steroids: Dio could sing songs with a conviction and in a way that made you engaged in what he was singing, in a way that was somewhat theatrical. Owens can't do that: he mostly approaches the song from the same perspective. And that perspective is just singing it without the conviction or theatrically of Dio. Even if the material on this album was better, I would still be unimpressed with Owens' singing voice on this, as he doesn't leave me convinced by his performance in the slightest. The best way I can put it is that I would expect unengaged singing on the demos of songs that are still being worked out, not on the final project that's meant to be listened to and enjoyed! I would let it go in that case, because it was obvious that the songs were still being tinkered about with and the vocals are just there to check how it sounds. Here, though...no. I expect to hear a much better performance than this.
Now here's when the album gets worse: the material, for the most part, is dull as fuck. Owens claims that he's aiming for songwriting that is in the vein of Judas Priest and Dio-era Black Sabbath on the back of my copy: straight to the throat, fist pumping metal that goes right for the bloodstream. Erm...hate to break it to you, dude, but this does not sound like it's in the vein of Judas Priest and Dio-era Black Sabbath. For a start, Dio-era Black Sabbath had lyrics that leaned towards a fantasy concept that was delivered by a vocalist who gave every word the importance it deserved without oversinging it and Judas Priest had a strong falsetto screamer who was leading a band playing rather quick heavy metal with high quality riffs. What you have, Mr. Owens, is mid paced boredom which you are delivering without any consideration of how important what you are singing is and without engaging lyrical concepts while also wasting the talents of some amazing musicians who might as well have not appeared on this album due to how unimpressive their performances. I know you know Judas Priest very well, as you sung for them, and you must know Dio's stuff well, as you're currently singing for Dio Disciples, so what I want to know is how the hell you messed THAT up?
The production...eh, it's not bad. Bass is too quiet, mastering is a bit too loud...if you've read this blog before now, you know the drill, I'm sure.
So, final thoughts? Well...no, I don't think I need to repeat what I think of this album, for there is NOTHING that needs to be said about it. I'll be fair, for all of my anger probably indicating otherwise, the album mostly sticks to being dull, so it's not an outright horrible album and definitely not as bad as my final rating is going to make it out to be. But the criminal misuse of the guest performers is something I just cannot ignore and, as such, I'm going to have to give one of the lowest scores I've given an album to date. If you can ignore the misuse of the guest performers, then add two points onto my final score.
Final Rating: 3 Out Of 10
A very dull album that criminally misuses the talents of the guest performers AND the guy who is supposed to be doing the solo project. If you can approach this without the expectations of what the guests can provide, you might find this a passable album, but not anything worth getting excited about. If you're a die hard fan of Ripper as a vocalist, you might find this enjoyable, but I doubt this is going to be one of his projects that you'll listen to a lot. Basically, I don't recommend this album to anyone UNLESS you can cope with Owens not doing what he does best, the guest performers not bringing their usual impressive performances to the table and material that is mostly very dull.
Personal Favourite Tracks: "favourite" might not be the right word here, but I found "Death Race" to be the most tolerable song on the album.
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