This must be the time for the forming of supergroups, as Silver teams up a few 80’s heavyweights for a formidable stew of hard rock sounds. Consisting of former Michael Schenker vocalist Gary Barden, keyboard player extraordinaire Don Airey, Ian Gillan and Atomic Rooster alumni Bernie Torme on guitar, Michael Voss on bass, and Marco Minnemann on drums, this line-up delivers a top notch brand of commercial hard rock done in early 80’s fashion.
I couldn’t help but remember while I was listening to Silver the old days when MSG, UFO, Rainbow, and the Scorpions occupied my turntable. This album is seemingly a leftover from that era. Barden was never the world’s strongest singer back in his days with Schenker, but here his voice has taken on a powerful richness that was not present 20 years ago. Powerful rockers like “Sister Love”, “Marianna” and the intense title track all features Barden’s remarkably strong vocals in full force. Torme is fairly restrained for the most part, mainly laying down chunky rhythm parts and brief solo explosions. Fans of his manic style with Gillan or Atomic Rooster might be slightly disappointed with the brevity of his solos on this recording, but this style really fits the songs better. The same can be said for Airey, who is really here to add melody lines and just the right amount of atmospheric backdrops, the one exception his brief classical blowout on the instrumental “Sergei’s Revenge.”
Although there is not much as far as an explanation, but it seems that this CD is dedicated to a songwriter named Broon, who wrote most of the tunes here. I am assuming that Silver is paying homage to this talented tunesmith, and if so what a fine job they have done.
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