Desperado were a hard rock/metal supergroup featuring Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, guitarist Bernie Torme (Gillan/Ozzy), drummer Clive Burr (ex-Iron Maiden), and bass player Marc Russell. After the original demise of Twisted Sister, Snider was looking to put together another band in 1989, and Desperado came together, the band even signed to Elektra Records, who then proceeded to put the album on ice for close to six years before releasing it. When this project didn't work out, Snider took Russell with him and put together Widowmaker, which is a story for another time. Ace, the one and only release from Desperado, is a strong, muscular metal album, filled with plenty of guitar histrionics from Torme, nimble drums from Burr, and anthemic vocals by Snider, who shows more range here than he does on most Twisted Sister albums.
Basically, Ace mixes 70's styled hard rock with 80's Los Angeles metal sounds. From the heavy blues rock of "Hang 'Em High", the kick ass metal of "Run Wild Run Free 9The Maverick)", to the powerful ballad "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", there's one winner after another here. Dee Snider, like I mentioned earlier, puts in one of his best performances on the album, and had this record been released when it was initially intended, I think guitarist Torme would really have gotten the recognition worldwide that he deserves. His beefy riffs, wild whammy bar passages, and speedy solos, would have easily appealed to metal heads who clamored for the sounds of other hot players of the day like Eddie Van Halen, George Lynch, Warren DiMartini, and Michael Schenker. His crankin' tone and ripping solo on the "should have been on radio" ballad "Calling For You" would have really turned heads back in 1990 when hair metal was still big on radio and MTV. His use of gorgeous acoustic and wild electric dive bombs on "There's No Angels Here", and gymnsastic fills on "Made For Trouble" seem ready for arena rock stages, especially here in the US. The whole band is on fire throughout the closer "Emaheeval", a powerhouse metal barnburner complete with Torme's blistering licks, Snider's powerful vocals, and busy rhythms.
Sadly, that never happened, as the exploding grunge movement killed any interest Elektra or any other label had in releasing their album, and the band split up, with Snider and Russell putting together Widowmaker for a few years before Twisted Sister eventually reformed. Torme continued his solo work as well as various projects, and Burr sadly was struck with MS and is now out of music. Ace is a fun document of a band that had the sound and the look, but were perhaps two years late to the game.
Track Listing
1. Hang 'Em High
2. Gone Bad
3. Run Wild Run Free (The Maverick)
4. The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter
5. Calling For You
6. See you At Sunrise
7. There's No Angels Here
8. Made For Trouble
9. Ride Thru The Storm
10. Son Of A Gun
11. Emaheeval
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