Rubicon Cross
Rubicon Cross
Raider Rock Records
2014
For all of us who are into 90s American hard rock/hair metal, I think the name Firehouse is inseparably connected with this music genre. Is there anybody who cannot include in his personal best of albums their excellent releases? I think very few of us can do it. As a band they had everything, outstanding compositions, great musicianship, a great image so it came as no surprise when in 1992 at the American Music Awards, they won the award for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock New Artist, over Nirvana and Alice In Chains, and made an enviable career not only in America and Europe but also in Japan. One of them, the Greek-American singer C.J. Snare appears this year in the music scene with his new band Rubicon Cross and its self-titled album, which he founded together with his close friend and best man, guitarist Chris Green (Pride, Furyon) with the participation of the bassist Simon Farmery (Pride, Furyon), the guitarist Jeff Lerman and the drummer Robert Behnke (Seventh Omen).
The sound of Rubicon Cross is primarily melodic heavy metal. The truly dynamic “Locked and Loaded” is the band’s first taste of what’s to come and it’s just awesome, with Snare remaining vocally recognizable from miles away, with his signature, unique timbre, almost completely un-affected by time. The guitars juice up things, with fresh melodic solos and the drums hammer on mercilessly. All in all it feels like an ideal start.
“Next Worse Enemy” starts with an up-tempo mood and filtered vocals, reminding me very much of stuff from Megadeth’s “Youthanasia” era … it’s a very good piece admittedly.
Another up-tempo track is also “Bleed with Me”, with its melodic choruses, nice modern structure and a robust bass track which is giving the baton to an elusive metal guitar solo.
The tempo fall next when a ballad titled “Save Me Within” makes its appearance. Imagine White Lion’s sound with vocals that resemble those of Tobias Sammett (Edguy); I do not know how you will receive this combination but that’s really what it sounded like to my ears... It might be a power ballad, but I wasn’t as impressed, by it as I hoped to be, or as I were by the previous songs. Slightly odd, this one.
“You Will Remember Me” is what the next track is called and it’s another spirited composition, very well written and executed, with big guitar solos and a beautiful chorus.
“Moving On” has a balladesque intro, but continues quite differently within its duration and certainly contains some elements of Rob Halford’s Fight in its compositional structure.
Momentarily I felt bewildered with the introduction of “RU Angry” because I thought I heard something from the “Crimson” era of Sentenced, but of course it was only for a few seconds that seemed like that, before I realized it was Rubicon Cross. It’s another heavy piece with the pace fluctuating all the time and actually a very good song with a lot of energy and an astonishing performance by Snare and I have to emphasize that in this release he is not singing in a very high octave as he was used to in the Firehouse era and prefers to remain in more modest scales.
We encounter another ballad in “Shine” which I don’t think fits exactly with the climate that the other compositions try to create, but it has little staying power.
Instead “Kill or Be Killed” is a fast track that only in its chorus slows down, probably to give it a little more emphasis and it also has an amazing and expressive guitar solo.
Finally we reach the end with “All the Little Things”, a punk song that strongly resembles Green Day’s “Basket Case” era, quite cheerful but also insipid in my opinion.
In conclusion the debut of Rubicon Cross is quite nice. Musically these guys are very good at what they do and surely delivering here. They have a very good setup as a band and excellent production, but I’d have preferred a somewhat fewer ballads and a stronger song towards the end.
If that had happened I could possibly had put a higher rating. Nevertheless, this is an album above the mediocrity that’s out there, with many good songs in it, so I think that you will not lose your time if you decide to “check it” out.
The sound of Rubicon Cross is primarily melodic heavy metal. The truly dynamic “Locked and Loaded” is the band’s first taste of what’s to come and it’s just awesome, with Snare remaining vocally recognizable from miles away, with his signature, unique timbre, almost completely un-affected by time. The guitars juice up things, with fresh melodic solos and the drums hammer on mercilessly. All in all it feels like an ideal start.
“Next Worse Enemy” starts with an up-tempo mood and filtered vocals, reminding me very much of stuff from Megadeth’s “Youthanasia” era … it’s a very good piece admittedly.
Another up-tempo track is also “Bleed with Me”, with its melodic choruses, nice modern structure and a robust bass track which is giving the baton to an elusive metal guitar solo.
The tempo fall next when a ballad titled “Save Me Within” makes its appearance. Imagine White Lion’s sound with vocals that resemble those of Tobias Sammett (Edguy); I do not know how you will receive this combination but that’s really what it sounded like to my ears... It might be a power ballad, but I wasn’t as impressed, by it as I hoped to be, or as I were by the previous songs. Slightly odd, this one.
“You Will Remember Me” is what the next track is called and it’s another spirited composition, very well written and executed, with big guitar solos and a beautiful chorus.
“Moving On” has a balladesque intro, but continues quite differently within its duration and certainly contains some elements of Rob Halford’s Fight in its compositional structure.
Momentarily I felt bewildered with the introduction of “RU Angry” because I thought I heard something from the “Crimson” era of Sentenced, but of course it was only for a few seconds that seemed like that, before I realized it was Rubicon Cross. It’s another heavy piece with the pace fluctuating all the time and actually a very good song with a lot of energy and an astonishing performance by Snare and I have to emphasize that in this release he is not singing in a very high octave as he was used to in the Firehouse era and prefers to remain in more modest scales.
We encounter another ballad in “Shine” which I don’t think fits exactly with the climate that the other compositions try to create, but it has little staying power.
Instead “Kill or Be Killed” is a fast track that only in its chorus slows down, probably to give it a little more emphasis and it also has an amazing and expressive guitar solo.
Finally we reach the end with “All the Little Things”, a punk song that strongly resembles Green Day’s “Basket Case” era, quite cheerful but also insipid in my opinion.
In conclusion the debut of Rubicon Cross is quite nice. Musically these guys are very good at what they do and surely delivering here. They have a very good setup as a band and excellent production, but I’d have preferred a somewhat fewer ballads and a stronger song towards the end.
If that had happened I could possibly had put a higher rating. Nevertheless, this is an album above the mediocrity that’s out there, with many good songs in it, so I think that you will not lose your time if you decide to “check it” out.