Uli John Roth is perhaps one of the most influential guitarists in hard rock/metal from the last 25 years, yet most of the mainstream world has probably has never heard of him. The folks at Lion Music, along with Executive Producer Lars Eric Mattson, have assembled a fine group of European metal upstarts to pay tribute to the axe-master, covering many of the more memorable Scorpions and Electric Sun classics that Roth was a part of.
One of the songs that remains at the top of most fans favorites lists is the raging "Sails of Charon" from the Scorpions album Taken By Force, performed here by Joop Walters on guitar, and Lance King on vocals. Walters, a very flashy player who has serious neo-classical chops, has Roth's technique down pretty closely, and King does his best Klaus Meine impression. Chris Steberl lends his guitar talents to "Electric Sun", and puts a somewhat different spin on that classic track, while vocalist Ella Grussner adds a majestic and sexy touch to "I'll Be Loving You Always", accompanied by Mr. Mattson on lead guitar, who gets the right amount of emotion and technique on his solo. Tony Hernando fills in the guitar seat on "Firewind", a fast paced rocker from the Electric Sun days, with some help from Torgny Stjarnfelt on vocals, who actually has a stronger voice than Uli and adds some extra power to this song. Hernando's speedy wah-wah laced guitar licks and beefy rhythm work give this song a strong metal edge. "Dark Lady" features the talents of Rolf Munkes, who really adds a different approach to the lead parts, along with Lance King once again, who covers both the Roth and Meine vocal parts perfectly here.
The Hendrix-inspired "Yellow Raven" features some psychedelic picking from Petrossi Dushan, along with melodic vocals from Alf Wemmenlind, before things come crushing into the mix with the heavy encore. Section A's Torben Enevoldsen's talents are on display for a version of "Burning Wheel Turning", showing speed, style, and a keen sense of melody on this Roth classic, joined by King on vocals. Famed Roth devotee James Byrd puts in an MVP caliber performance on "Still So Many Lives Away", a great sing-along type rocker that is probably the most commercial sounding of all of Roth's tunes. Byrd's flashy, multi-tracked arpeggios are just bursting through the speakers, carrying a huge sound that is as much classical as it is great melodic hard rock. "I'll Be There" doesn't fare as well as some of the other songs in this set, with the production sounding like it was recorded in a garbage can. Lance King's vocals are muffled, and Cyril Achard's guitar solos sound like they are being phoned in from the bottom of an ocean. Only Jean Marc Layani's keyboards seem to sound clear on this one-I wonder what happened? Things get back on track quickly on the raunchy "Indian Dawn", featuring dirty guitar sounds from Thorbjorn Englund, as well as the classic "Pictured Life", which has fabulous wah-wah guitar from Neal Grusky. I would have picked a different singer though on the latter, as Torgny Stjarnfelt doesn't have what it takes to sing Klaus Meine's parts. Alex Masi and William Stravato share the guitar duties on the gorgeous instrumental "Return", while Eric Sands lends his rampaging wah-wah and tremolo lines to "Polar Nights." Singer Alf Wemmenlind has a voice sort of like Sebastian Bach, and adds a neat twist to this Scorpions classic. The CD ends with the monstrous classical excursion "Paganini Paraphrase", featuring the awesome talents of Paul Nelson, who perhaps comes off as best representing Uli Roth's style today.
The supporting cast on this tribute consists of former Europe skinsman Ian Haugland, Weine Johansson, Franck Hermany, and Matt Cistone on bass, plus drummers Gerald Kloos and Francesco Ciacciarelly. They do a fine job keeping the rhythm going on this diverse collection of Roth classics. As far as tribute CD's go, this is a good one. Even though some of the tunes stay pretty straight with the originals, there's enough personal statements thrown in to make things interesting.
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