Rob Rock – Garden of Chaos

artist website

publisher

impulse buy

AFM
Produced by Roy Z

The implausibly named Rob Rock has always been somewhat of an underground entity in power metal, despite having been around for some time he’s never become the household name that people like Ralf Scheepers, Joacim Cans and Tobias Sammet have.

Rob has indeed been around for a long time and first came to the public’s collective attention as part of M.A.R.S. Project: Driver with Tony MacAlpine, Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge in 1986. After several years as the voice of Impelliteri he went solo in 2000, releasing Rage of Creation, followed by Eyes of Eternity in 2003 and Holy Hell in 2005. Rock’s current band is actually Narnia (minus singer Christian Rivel ne Liljegren), the neo-classical progressive metal outfit from Sweden.

Being produced by Roy Z gives the record that sharp edge that most of the stuff he has a hand in benefits from, and Garden of Chaos is a strong enough opener with the typically ominous intro and a classic metal riff. A low, evil guitar tone intro to Satan’s Playground offers some promise, but it quickly becomes a fairly typical catchy power metal track with harmonies and so forth – well done, but nothing new – and then a string of a-typical power metal rockers follows which, to be honest, start to blur together until the comedy of Metal Breed‘s heavy metal community attempt at a rabble-rousing anthem bring a smile to the face.

There is a lingering feeling of “by-the-numbers” to this record. Rob doesn’t have a very unique voice and although it is undoubtedly good, it’s just a regular power metal voice like countless others. On top of this the songs are stereo-typical, the riffs are unimaginative and offer nothing in the shape of groove or interesting rhythms and the lyrics vary between standard fare and just plain silly. The best thing about the album is some of Carl Johan Grimmark’s lead guitar playing, which can be tasteful or lightning fast, as the song dictates. It’s the only thing that saves Millenial Reign from being complete dross, for example.

In terms of a stand out track, there is one, but it’s not the one you’d expect. This rarely happens with a metal album, but the best song is the acoustic-guitar-and-keyboard driven medieval ballad Unconditional. The lyrics are weak ’80s power ballad stuff, but the melodies are wonderful. Closing the album immediately with another, weaker, ballad is a bad move though.

There are a lot of power metal bands doing very similar things at the moment, and we need something new and different. This is not it.

“ standard fare ”

Tracklist: Garden of Chaos / Satan’s Playground / Saviour’s Call / This Time Is The Last Time / Only A Matter of Time / Spirit In The Sky / Metal Breed / Millenial Reign / Unconditional / Ode To Alexander
Limited Edition Bonus Track: Ride The Wind

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Power Metal, Rob Rock