It’s that time again, time for a new Ross The Boss album. Less than 2 years following the excellent “By Blood Sworn” album, the Ross The Boss band has a release date of March 6th, 2020 for the new “ via Born of Fire.” AFM Records
By Milwaukee Tom
‘Born of Fire” features just about the same lineup as the previous album, (Marc Lopes on Vocals, Mike Lepond, Bass and of course Ross The Boss on Guitar) with the exception of drummer Steve Bolognese (Death Dealer, Into Eternity, Witherfall). Although Steve has been the drummer in the band for at least a couple of years playing their live dates.
On to the album, “Born of Fire.”
The first couple of things that stand out about this album is the high intensity, high energy level it has, this is an aggressive metal album. “Born of Fire” might be a little bit more up tempo than it’s predecessor, “By Blood Sworn.”The playing and musicianship is excellent. Ever member of the band does an outstanding job with presenting this new music. Marc Lopes kills it with his strong vocal work and his ability to hit - and hold those very high notes. And there are smaller doses of guttural vocals that gives the album, along with it’s quick pace, a hint of thrash style. Mike LePond is one of the very best bass players in the business, and he shines once again on this album. Steve Bolognese turns in a great performance, and this might be his best drumming on any album he’s performed on. He plays with skill and power with his double bass patterns. And what more can be said about Ross… he’s one of the all time greats, and on “Born of Fire,” Ross rips it up. Great guitar work as usual.
All in all, there are 12 songs. Most are of the up tempo variety, however there are a couple of songs that have a Sabbath-ish kind of sound to them in a couple of spots. But right from the start, “Glory To The Slain” and “I am The Sword,” are burners that really set the stage to a song like “Demon Holiday,” that has a great metal groove to it. The album does have a tinge of keyboards in the background here and there, but nothing over done at all.
“Born of Fire” is an excellent album, by a great band… The Ross The Boss band. It has enough very good songs on it, to keep it in your playing rotation of music for a long time.Highly recommend going out and purchasing it.
Track List: 01. Glory To The Slain 02. Fight The Fight 03. Denied By The Cross 04. Maiden of Shadows 05. I Am The Sword 06. Shotgun Evolution 07. Born Of Fire 08. Godkiller 09. The Blackest Heart 10.Demon Holiday 11. Undying 12. Waking The Moon
RATING: 8 Out of 10.
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