Ronny Munroe
Electric Wake
Rat Pak Records
2014
Coming in the heels of a really enjoyable Metal Church album, this is their frontman’s third solo effort. I remember asking about any solo activity while doing an interview with Ronny last Christmas, so I was aware that this would surface at some point... like his previous albums, this is some decent American metal, which borrows some mannerisms from Munroe’s mainband and both predecessors. The album is full of riffy, chunky, mid-tempo, heavy metal, that is not short on melodies, but is somewhat less inspired than is could and should have been overall to have been a thoroughly enjoyable piece of work.
There are definitely “moments” and Munroe, tries hard, through his conviction and pathos to sell, the songs, even when some are not that strong… the main problem seems to be that some of them seem to contain certain good parts, like a good riff or a nice solo, but then fail on the chorus or vice versa. It’s rare that a song is completely – great and there are a couple of “pretty” snoozy numbers.
Opener “Burning Time” is an ideal introduction, hard hitting and setting the scene quite properly, with its increasingly engulfing atmosphere… while “Ghosts” which features ex-Dokken and Lynch Mob member George Lynch, on guitars has some nice, sharp guitars, but a rather simple chorus… but it kind of works anyway…
The title track, continues in a heavy, mid tempo territory and has an interesting chorus and solo, but by this point there’s a bit of a homogeneity between the riffs and the overall sound becoming apparent…
“Turn to Stone” attempts to up the ante by, going for a much faster punchier and a lot more modern beat on the drums, with interesting results…
“My Shadow” takes a stab at quasi heroic Priest territory, with possibly dubious results… it’s not bad, but it’s far from being great… at best it sounds like a half decently executed, half decent idea.
“Not You, Not Me” has some good melodies going on about it, but again, the vocals are quite borderline and while initially there’s about 1 minute of great melodies, the rest of the track is pretty boring and goes nowhere fast, without a strong riff to back it…
“Pray” begins slowly, almost like a ballad, and has some really cathartic climaxes in the choruses, that come several times.
“Ritual Damage” is another rather charged number, not as much as “Pray” obviously... Here things are a lot more riff driven and it’s an interesting if only simple number.
“Sleepless Mountain” was rather unremarkable, if not for a nice solo and a short nice riff it has, but overall... it’s not something that I will remember...
“The Others (Long Live Heavy Metal)” featuring: Pamela Moore and Dave Rude (Tesla) might obviously have its “guests” but it’s rather “toe-curlingly” graphic... without even trying… which is almost a pity as there’s a quite nice melody in there, getting quite wasted over some pretty damn cheesy lyrics... and Pamela Moore, sounds pretty “bad” unfortunately, when she exclaims “stand up and show us who you are...” just as if someone is attempting to strangle her while she’s singing! Yikes.
At least “United” the last number on “Electric Wake” is a strong and loud, hard beating number, that sort of put things back into perspective… it almost sounds like Accept meets Metal Church and is possibly the most manic thing on the album, rather weirdly left until the end... to close the album… Mr. Munroe, a dozen more of those would have been most welcome, ye know!?
There are definitely “moments” and Munroe, tries hard, through his conviction and pathos to sell, the songs, even when some are not that strong… the main problem seems to be that some of them seem to contain certain good parts, like a good riff or a nice solo, but then fail on the chorus or vice versa. It’s rare that a song is completely – great and there are a couple of “pretty” snoozy numbers.
Opener “Burning Time” is an ideal introduction, hard hitting and setting the scene quite properly, with its increasingly engulfing atmosphere… while “Ghosts” which features ex-Dokken and Lynch Mob member George Lynch, on guitars has some nice, sharp guitars, but a rather simple chorus… but it kind of works anyway…
The title track, continues in a heavy, mid tempo territory and has an interesting chorus and solo, but by this point there’s a bit of a homogeneity between the riffs and the overall sound becoming apparent…
“Turn to Stone” attempts to up the ante by, going for a much faster punchier and a lot more modern beat on the drums, with interesting results…
“My Shadow” takes a stab at quasi heroic Priest territory, with possibly dubious results… it’s not bad, but it’s far from being great… at best it sounds like a half decently executed, half decent idea.
“Not You, Not Me” has some good melodies going on about it, but again, the vocals are quite borderline and while initially there’s about 1 minute of great melodies, the rest of the track is pretty boring and goes nowhere fast, without a strong riff to back it…
“Pray” begins slowly, almost like a ballad, and has some really cathartic climaxes in the choruses, that come several times.
“Ritual Damage” is another rather charged number, not as much as “Pray” obviously... Here things are a lot more riff driven and it’s an interesting if only simple number.
“Sleepless Mountain” was rather unremarkable, if not for a nice solo and a short nice riff it has, but overall... it’s not something that I will remember...
“The Others (Long Live Heavy Metal)” featuring: Pamela Moore and Dave Rude (Tesla) might obviously have its “guests” but it’s rather “toe-curlingly” graphic... without even trying… which is almost a pity as there’s a quite nice melody in there, getting quite wasted over some pretty damn cheesy lyrics... and Pamela Moore, sounds pretty “bad” unfortunately, when she exclaims “stand up and show us who you are...” just as if someone is attempting to strangle her while she’s singing! Yikes.
At least “United” the last number on “Electric Wake” is a strong and loud, hard beating number, that sort of put things back into perspective… it almost sounds like Accept meets Metal Church and is possibly the most manic thing on the album, rather weirdly left until the end... to close the album… Mr. Munroe, a dozen more of those would have been most welcome, ye know!?