Rock Zone Blood In My Eyes
Rattlesnake Records I-006 2001
By Russell Garwood
Formed in 1987 by vocalist Medusa and guitarist Cobra, Rock Zone have been through numerous bass players and drummers. The bands line-up stabilized after finding members with the necessary metal spirit to be members of the worlds most dedicated metal band. This dedication, it conspires, amounts to a complete lack of originality, dated sound and an apparent burning desire to be categorized and pigeon-holed.
Medusas vox are generally poor, they lack power and she often hits wrong notes when singing above or below her mid-range. The deep backing vocals (see the title track) courtesy of Cobra, Aquaman and Raven, however, are effective and catchy but rarely used. The lead guitar courtesy of Cobra is prosaic and largely simplistic, but he lives by the words of B.B.King it doesnt matter if you play the same note all night as long as it has soul. Unfortunately his playing doesnt, but the sporadic solos can be catchy, while Cables rhythm guitar is solid. Ravens bass is technically competent and supports the music well while the drums courtesy of Aquaman are slow and straightforward but drive the music well. For a band that prides itself on the size of their drummers kit (the press release takes great pains to ensure you know this) Aquaman himself makes amazingly little use of his plethora of drums and cymbals.
You also have to wonder where the bands priorities lie when they are sponsored by Jack Daniels, the original rock juice, and there is an apparent lack of attention paid to the music on the four tracks of this album sampler. The songs are unoriginal, occasionally catchy classic metal, with badly written lyrics like Thought we had commed [sic] much longer/ so close to the millenium/we all knew it was good to last/ hatreds fire is still burning/ havent we learned anything/ its always the other ones fault and If you wanna, taste the honey/ you gotta gimme, gimme money. The artwork follows the standard set by the music, being kitsch in the extreme, while the production is slightly better. RockZones music would appeal to fans of classic metal as long as they dont mind poorly-written and performed songs, and for everyone else I would avoid the bands forthcoming, self-titled album at all costs.
Rattlesnake Records I-006 2001
By Russell Garwood
Formed in 1987 by vocalist Medusa and guitarist Cobra, Rock Zone have been through numerous bass players and drummers. The bands line-up stabilized after finding members with the necessary metal spirit to be members of the worlds most dedicated metal band. This dedication, it conspires, amounts to a complete lack of originality, dated sound and an apparent burning desire to be categorized and pigeon-holed.
Medusas vox are generally poor, they lack power and she often hits wrong notes when singing above or below her mid-range. The deep backing vocals (see the title track) courtesy of Cobra, Aquaman and Raven, however, are effective and catchy but rarely used. The lead guitar courtesy of Cobra is prosaic and largely simplistic, but he lives by the words of B.B.King it doesnt matter if you play the same note all night as long as it has soul. Unfortunately his playing doesnt, but the sporadic solos can be catchy, while Cables rhythm guitar is solid. Ravens bass is technically competent and supports the music well while the drums courtesy of Aquaman are slow and straightforward but drive the music well. For a band that prides itself on the size of their drummers kit (the press release takes great pains to ensure you know this) Aquaman himself makes amazingly little use of his plethora of drums and cymbals.
You also have to wonder where the bands priorities lie when they are sponsored by Jack Daniels, the original rock juice, and there is an apparent lack of attention paid to the music on the four tracks of this album sampler. The songs are unoriginal, occasionally catchy classic metal, with badly written lyrics like Thought we had commed [sic] much longer/ so close to the millenium/we all knew it was good to last/ hatreds fire is still burning/ havent we learned anything/ its always the other ones fault and If you wanna, taste the honey/ you gotta gimme, gimme money. The artwork follows the standard set by the music, being kitsch in the extreme, while the production is slightly better. RockZones music would appeal to fans of classic metal as long as they dont mind poorly-written and performed songs, and for everyone else I would avoid the bands forthcoming, self-titled album at all costs.
