After his associations with Ritchie Blackmore came to an end, vocalist Ronnie Romero didn’t take any time out to reflect on the loss of his highest profile job to date. Instead, he threw himself further into his work. In 2020 he reconvened with his old band, Lords of Black, and released the heavy, semi-theatrical ‘Alchemy of Souls, Part 1’; gained a job as frontman with the new-look Vandenberg; forged associations with Michael Schenker’s revolving cast of stars, and became a member of Milan Vrabevski’s Intelligent Music Project. For most people, this would already represent too much of a heavy workload, but on top of that, Romero also took on the job of being Joe Lynn Turner’s replacement in the much-loved Sunstorm. Their sixth album ‘Afterlife’ (released in the first half of 2021) was much better than it had any right to be, and cemented Ron’s reputation as a reliable and committed performer. One thing was for certain: he didn’t need Blackmore.
Author Archives: Real Gone
Watch the new video from Kesem
The stoner/psychedelic band Kesem have only recently released their album ‘Post-Tera’, but they’re not resting on their laurels. At a time when any live promotional work is still a little hit and miss due to Covid-19 restrictions, they’re promoting the album with a new video clip.
SAIL – Flood
Although Sail are a predominantly heavy act, a quick dig through their back catalogue shows that the UK riff makers are anything but stuck in their ways. Their material often has a stoner and doom undercurrent, but there are various different avenues taken along the way: 2020’s ‘Mannequin’ single displayed a strong bluesy vibe; the title cut from 2017’s ‘Slumbersong’ took an unexpected detour into shimmering dreampop without losing the band’s generally ominous tone and 2019’s ‘Starve’ mixed desert rock grooves with a pleasingly crashy riff that straddled aggression and melody in the most perfect way. The point is, it sort of doesn’t matter where you drop into the band’s work; if you love a heavy riff, there’s almost something to suit, and you’re almost guaranteed to come away feeling very satisfied.
Check out the debut video from Bad Rescue
2021 may well have been another shaky year in terms of social elements and the ongoing global pandemic, but it hasn’t been short of good music. Here’s another new band to add to your growing list of artists to check out.
Listen: Mantic Ritual return with ‘Crusader’; first new music for over a decade
The new single from Mantic Ritual sees the Pittsburgh thrash band tapping into everything you’ve ever loved about the seemingly unsinkable metal sub-genre. ‘Crusader’ mixes Testament-like riffs with the speed of old Exciter tunes, but for that full on authentic feel, it features a brattish vocal that recalls the carefree style of the young James Hetfield circa 1983, complete with the kind of reverb present on the early 80s thrash releases.