Ron Keel surely needs no introduction, first making a name for himself by fronting Steeler before forming Keel who sold two million albums in the Eighties. Over the years he has been in other outfits as well, and on this album, he has undertaken something I don’t think I have seen before, namely going into the studio with his different bands and recording new music. Now, some of the musicians do appear in more than one outfit, but that is only to be expected, and each band is quite different, so we get songs from Ron Keel Band, Steeler, Keel, IronHorse, Emerald Sabbath, as well as solo material. Only “Children of the Grave” is a cover, the rest all being new songs which were recorded for this album, he is quite clear they are not previously unreleased songs or leftovers from previous albums. I must admit to not having heard of Emerald Sabbath before this, but it includes Bobby Rondinelli (Black Sabbath, Rainbow), drums; Neil Murray (Black Sabbath, Whitesnake), bass; Dave “DC” Cothern (Ron Keel Band) & Mike Dresch, guitar. Apparently, Ron was (very) briefly a member of Sabbath, but this is the first I have heard of it.

Given this album contains songs from multiple outfits it might be expected they are quite different in nature, but apart from the Emerald Sabbath numbers they could easily be by the same musicians, but given they are all fronted by the same singer that is no surprise whatsoever. I don’t think I have ever owned any Keel material, but I was certainly aware of them back in the day, and this album brought quite a smile to my face. It is melodic hard rock which has more of an edge than one might expect from an Eighties outfit, in that it is has been brought up to date and contains material that fans of the likes of Bon Jovi or Bonfire would certainly enjoy. Keel is in his Sixties now, but he still has a fine voice, and I really enjoyed the different approach he showed on “..Grave”. He ends the set sat with an acoustic guitar, again showing a very different style to his vocals and performance. He may have gained a lot of success in the past, and this album has provided some great insight into his bands and voice, and I can see there is some research to be had. This is very pleasant melodic hard rock indeed.

Rating: 7/10

Links:
https://ronkeel.com/