Driver – Sons of Thunder

artist website

publisher

impulse buy

Metal Heaven
Produced by Roy Z

In the World of melodic rock the reformation of Driver is a long over-due thing, and this is actually their debut album, more than 20 years after they originally formed.

Driver was originally led by vocalist Rob Rock and guitarist Roy Z. Rock had recorded the Project: Driver album in 1986 with M.A.R.S., and Driver’s debut album was intended to be his follow-up to that. In 1990 they issued a self-titled five-track EP which was massively well-received, but after that Rock went on to have great success fronting Impellitteri, and then as a solo artist, while Z joined up with Bruce Dickinson for his post-Iron Maiden solo career, and went on to become one of heavy metal’s most sought-after producers.

On Sons of Thunder they have tried to re-capture what they were originally planning for the debut album back in the early ’90s. Rock and Z are joined by original drummer Reynold Carlson and have added Impellitteri keyboard player Ed Roth and George Lynch/John 5 bassist Aaron Samson to re-record the five songs from the EP, plus seven new compositions in the same vein.

Intro track Titans of Speed is magnificent. It’s heavy, fast, melodic and has some of Roy Z’s best guitar playing committed to disc. And I’m A Warrior continues in the same way, instantly showing that Rob Rock sounds much better here than on his latest below-average solo record Garden of Chaos. From then on tracks vary between the equally muscular and things that sound decidedly more ’80s in style, particularly the ballads.

Dark World and Sons of Thunder are the other two toughest tracks after I’m A Warrior, but what makes the album and overall strong one is that the lighter-mood tracks are not full of the usual melodic rock clichés or uninteresting riffs. Lyrically we’re not talking Dylan or Weller, but it’s not De Burgh either. Of particular note, Change of Heart will sound familiar to fans of Roy Z’s regular employer Bruce Dickinson, who re-wrote the song with Roy for his Balls To Picasso album.

This ends a busy period of recording for Rock, who also sang on the Fires of Babylon album with Lou St. Paul as well as his solo album, and this is comfortably his strongest performance. He’s busy playing solo shows at the moment, but hopefully he and the others can get together for long enough to play a few Driver shows and record again. They’ve shown they have something to contribute to the melodic rock World.

“ heavy, fast, melodic ”

Tracklist: Titans of Speed / I’m A Warrior / Fly Away / Heart’s On Fire / Sons of Thunder / Never Give Up / Change of Heart / Dark World / Winds of March / Only Love Can Save Me Now / Tears That I Cry / I Believe In Love

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Hard Rock, Driver