Starr; Jack; Featuring Rhett Forrester: Out Of The Darkness

Notable for featuring the late Rhett Forrester of Riot on vocals, Out Of The Darkness was the first solo album of the then recently departed Virgin Steele guitarist Jack Starr, before he went on to form Burning Starr. The pairing was an exciting one, with one of the most recognisable voices in the underground Rock scene at the time teaming up with a fiery, yet focused guitarist of some renown. The results, Out Of The Darkness, went on to become voted one of 1984's most important albums by Kerrang! magazine, back when it was a publication of real clout. With a keen blend of the more commercial side that Forrester was known for and the bombastic US Power Metal Starr had helped create with Virgin Steele, it was easy to see why.

Starr was, and still is, a six stringer able to find his own way rather than copy what has come before and his ability here, along with Gary Driscoll (Rainbow), Ned Meloni (Burning Starr) and Carl Canedy and Gary Bordonado (both The Rods), to combine two styles not normally brought together means that Out Of The Darkness, for all its "of the day" production – vocals echo all over the place, even though this reissue has been remastered by R.D. Liapakis – still holds a huge amount of interest and eye catching entertainment. Cracking songs obviously don't hurt either and the likes of "Concrete Warrior", "False Messiah" and "Eyes Of Fire" all contain enough ballsy energy and attitude to still hit hard some 29 years down the line. All three combine razor sharp riffage to classy vocals from a singer who deserves to be spoken of far more regularly than he is. However the most impressive aspect remains how the ethos resolutely sits somewhere between all out Metal (or at least what we affectionately called Metal in the mid 80s) and something far more commercially astute. An achievement seldom achieved by many more well known bands and artists both then and now.

To add value a selection of fine guitar instrumental tracks from Starr's A Minor Disturbance album and a further instrumental titled "Blue Tears Falling" have been tacked on to the end of this disc and while all are good (especially "Blue Tears..."), the main event here is undoubtedly Out Of The Darkness. For a brief moment it appeared that the style of music Starr has always commanded so well was set for a period of Metallic dominance and this reissued album is a timely reminder of why.

Track Listing
01. Concrete Warrior
02. False Messiah
03. Scorcher
04. Wild In The Streets
05. I Can't Let You Walk Away
06. Chains Of Love
07. Eyes Of Fire
08. Odile 4:4109. Let's Get Crazy Again
10. Amazing Grace
Bonus Tracks:
11. Exodus
12. Interlude In The Afternoon
13. Sundance Strut
14. Love In The Rain
15. Last Date
16. Blue Tears Falling

Added: December 4th 2013
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Jack Starr at Limb Music
Hits: 2089
Language: english

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