|
|
Between Worlds feat. Ronny Munroe – Between Worlds
Label: Frontiers
Format: Download
Released: 2021
Reviewed By: Rich Catino
Rating: 7.5/10
|
|
New music from singer Ronny Munroe (ex Metal Church) which includes label regular Alessandro Del Vecchio (keyboards, backing vocals), plus guitarist Jack Frost (Seven Witches, Bronx Casket Co, ex Savatage) on leads. The music is a pleasing blend of power and prog metal with moments of AOR rock heard on opening title track and will appeal to fans of the band Vanden Plas and older Evergrey. It’s how the charging riff works with the keys, the breaks, and complimenting leads.
|
|
Ronny’s voice has its own texture but not as edgy or aggressive as his work on the four Metal Church albums. Oddly enough this album also rings some familiarities to Archon Angel which features singer Zak Stevens (Savatage), and a couple other regular musicians for the Frontiers labels.
Given the different contributors, by second track ‘These Walls’ you can hear rhythm guitarist Pete Alpenborg and Frost’s tone work together, and Jack does not have the same approach to leads as what he would do for Witches or Casket. So there was a conscious goal for these songs to have cohesion. More emotion comes through Munroe’s delivery for ‘Life Enough For Me’ and ‘Times of Change’ with leads accenting the keyboard and vocal melody.
By track five, more connections to the Savatage/Trans Siberian Orchestra family tree, John Lee Middleton and Chris Caffery (also adds a nice touch on ballad ‘Angel’) provide bass and guitar for straight forward rocker ‘No Escape’, plus Whitesnake’s Joel Hoekstra (in TSO as well) brings the fire on a heavier ‘Soul Chaser’. Keyboards and bass set the tone for ‘Beautiful Disaster’, to the AOR chorus on ‘Flip The Script’, and a driving tempo chugging riff to ‘Beneath The Surface’.
Question is, is this a new band, or project? Too many similarities to other Frontiers albums? One and done, does Ronny release something under his own name, or join another band?
|
|