Herman Frank made his name as guitarist with German metallers Accept but The Devil Rides Out is his third solo outing, following Loyal To None and Right In The Guts.
Out on AFM Records this is clearly a showcase for Frank’s undoubted talent and to me, this sounds like just that; lots of powerful, fast guitaring surrounded by generic, average songs.
Take the first song, “Running Back”, for example. It starts with a bit of a solo, has a solo in the middle and another near the end. In the meantime, the vocals merely fill in the time in between.
As for the vocals themselves – and I know they are always a personal taste – they just don’t grab me. Rick Altzi has a bit of a gruff voice but somehow lacks the power behind it to match the metal.
On the upside, Herman Frank is clearly a talented guitarist who’s solos tend to be of the screaming, fast variety which I guess is what he is aiming for.
Much of the music on the album is performed at a breakneck speed which is down to drummer Andre Hilgers and bassist Michael Muller who team up really well to produce the power to match Frank’s axe work.
I could review and report on each song individually but to be frank (pardon the pun) they all kind of merge into one of great guitaring buried in a sea of boring songs with poor lyrics. “Kill” rhyming with “Thrill”, anybody? That’s not been done before……..
The faster-paced songs are the better ones as when they try to take things down a bit the songs turn into turgid affairs, lifted only by Herman Frank’s solo work.
I appreciate that this is the band’s first permanent line-up and I wish them well as they are a talented group, I just think they should consider some outside help in songwriting.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojdpo-wD9jc[/embedyt]
