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RONNIE ROMERO
Raised On Heavy Radio

Frontiers (2023)
Rating: 7.5/10

Albums which consist entirely of cover versions are so difficult to review because rarely do musicians set out to intentionally murder classic songs. Last year former Accept frontman Udo Dirkschneider destroyed several songs on his My Way outing, but thankfully Ronnie Romero (Michael Schenker Group / Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow / Lords Of Black / Sunstorm / The Ferrymen) does a fine job of having a good time with his renditions of some of heavy metal’s greatest songs.

Romero has a rich and fiery tone and so his croons are more than suitable when it comes to covering tracks such as Deep Purple’s ‘The Battle Rages On’ and Manowar’s ‘Metal Daze’, while musician friends like Gus G. (Firewind / ex-Ozzy Osbourne), Chris Caffery (Savatage / Trans-Siberian Orchestra), Roland Grapow (Masterplan / ex-Helloween) and Nozomu Wakai (Destinia) join in the merriment.

What this album really does is showcase Romero’s talent as a frontman as he takes more challenging tracks such as Iron Maiden’s ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’ and Judas Priest’s ‘Turbo Lover’ and gives them the warmth and versatility they deserve. Naturally, the musicians Ronnie has assembled do admirable work throughout and never once are tracks bastardized or disassembled. Instead, everything on offer is true and for the most part it works.

Metallica’s ‘The Four Horseman’ and Accept’s ‘Fast As A Shark’ naturally lack the snap of the original designs, and it is difficult to latch onto the cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘No More Tears’ just because of Ozzy’s inimitable style, but the keyboards have a warmth to the sound.

What is key here is the fact that Romero hasn’t set out to make such covers unrecognisable. He and his band merely put their own stamp evidenced more so on the enigmatic cover of Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s ‘You Don’t Remember, I’ll Never Forget’ and Black Sabbath’s ‘The Shining’. To an extent this is a simple homage from a bunch of metal guys playing songs written by a bunch of other metal guys… and done well.

Neil Arnold

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