Prior to the release date when I heard of this band and their upcoming release I was intrigued. Having been a fan of Steve Stevens forever and his side project Atomic Playboys way back when, the term Radiation Romeos appealed to me. This band has the vocalist from the aforementioned and you may recognize his name; Parramore McCarty, from Warrior earlier in the 80s. Here on Radiation Romeos, we are given 11 tracks of hard melodic rock. Starting off with the self-titled track off the self-titled album the guitars are strong and rockin’ all the way. The vocals are clean and produced. The song is a really good start!
The second track is “Ocean Drive” which starts with piano and bass, then some heavy guitar riffs. Good. As it moves along it is an AOR style rock song. I like it plenty, cheesy lyrics and all. Summer tune that matches the title.
“Bad Bad Company” begins much heavier with crunching guitars. As the song progresses I am not in line with the vocal style which is gruffer. I can forward this song through after 1 full listen.
“Mystic Mountain” again is on the heavier side and as the title suggests has that storytelling of yore lyrics. Again, this is not a song I will likely listen to twice.
“Like an Arrow” is the ballad. It is good. Sounds similar to a Scorpions style tune.
Over the remaining tunes there is “Promised Land”, “Castaways”, “Ghost Town”, “Til the end of Time”, “On the Tight Rope”, and “Monster Traxx” and the album is trailing off into obscurity for me. The only standout of the latter half is “Til the end of Time”. There are some really good riffs here and there, but not enough to grab onto, peak or keep my interest I am very sad to say as I had high hopes for this release. That said overall this is pretty good music and I will gladly listen to a couple tracks with somewhat regularity. Sadly it does not stand out enough and lacks enough strong tunes for my taste. Fairly formulaic and lacking identity overall, that is to say, generic rock/hard rock throughout. Not a bad thing and I can imagine this will appeal to some.
Tracks to try: “Radiation Romeos” / “Ocean Drive” / “Like an Arrow” / “Til the end of Time”
- Blair De Abreu
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuvbbgCNB3k[/embedyt]
