I met Jack Frost once, at the Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles 6-Pack Weekend in Cleveland in June 2003. He was sitting at a table by himself, waiting for anyone to come up and speak with him about his band Seven Witches, his stint in Savatage or life in general. I approached him and we began to discuss the epic title track on Seven Witches current album, Passage to the Other Side — a song Frost wrote about losing his brother to cancer. After our conversation, I shook his hand and left, wondering why no one else in the crowded venue wanted to chat with the guy.
After listening to Raise Your Fist To Metal, Frost's "solo" album — a songwriting and recording collaboration with singers and players from the likes of Symphony X, Harem Scarem, Fates Warning, Overkill, Doro, Britny Fox, Armored Saint, Axel Rudi Pell and W.A.S.P. — I feel comfortable betting that he wouldn't be so lonely were he in the same circumstances this summer. Raise Your Fist To Metal is a solid album on which Frost plays all guitars, and it covers at least four distinct types of metal: power ("Stay," featuring a startling vocal performance by Harem Scarem's Harry Hess), progressive ("Slow Burn, " featuring Rob Rock on vocals), hair ("The Man I Am," with Frost himself taking a turn at the mic and thrash ("What I Say," again with Hess singing). Frost also gets the opportunity to go nuts on the aptly titled yet brief instrumental shredder "Nippin' At Your Ear."
Nevertheless, a pair of questionable covers — a so-so version of Kansas' "Fight Fire With Fire" featuring Azlan's Steve Braun on vocals and a pointless runthrough of Ratt's "Lack of Communication" with Life After Death's singer Jack Emrick — on an album that's only 36 minutes long probably requires some sort of explanation. But I'll save that question for the next time I bump into Jack Frost.
Track Listing:
1) Stay (3:33)
2) The Chase (4:56)
3) Brotherhood of Lies (3:47)
4) What's Left (4:33)
5) The Man I Am (3:43)
6) Nippin' At Your Ear (1:17)
7) What Can I Say (3:11)
8) Fight Fire With Fire (3:48)
9) Slow Burn (3:45)
10) Lack of Communication (3:39)
Total Time: 36:16
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