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Tag: red dragon cartel

RED DRAGON CARTEL – Patina

April 20, 2022 /

This is the second album from Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel, and after having a few problems with Darren Smith when playing live, he is back for this album. I really like the first album and I’m a big fan of Darren Smith as a drummer from his work with Harem Scarem, and I really like his vocal style too.

Opener, Speedbag, is a great modern melodic rock track with a nice vocal and groove. Second track in, Havana, was the first track released and is the best track on the album. The main riff and melody are killer and will have you humming away to yourself. Also nice to hear Jake ripping it up somewhat as there seems to be more leads on this album. Crooked Man has the same opening drum fill as Rock Candy by Montrose, but has a more downbeat feel to it. The whole album has more of a raw feel to it than it’s predecessor, and the use of fuzz pedals does add to that somewhat – listen to the tracks, The Luxury Of Breathing, and Bitter, to see what I mean. Chasing Ghosts is a really cool track as they are trying to do something new in a very tired format, and I really love that choppy riff and groove.

All in all it’s a good album, but doesn’t quite reach the heights of their first.

8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

RED DRAGON CARTEL – s/t

May 1, 2021 /

After being removed from Ozzy’s band (I think you can guess who by), and for being in the excellent Badlands, Jake E Lee all but disappeared from the public eye – only to release a couple of solo albums before returning to the spotlight 20 plus years later with this excellent band, Red Dragon Cartel. The band consists of Jake himself on all guitar duties, ex Harem Scarem drummer Darren Smith on vocals, Ron Mancuso on bass, and unknown drummer Jonas Fairley on drums. There are also high profile guests on vocals.

The album kicks off with Deceived, a monster of a tune with Jake E’s trademark riff to start, and Darren’s vocals on the chorus remind me of Ozzy. Great opening track. Shout It Out is one of the stand out tracks on the album. A great tune with a great chorus and huge riff. Feeder has Robin Zander on vocals and is another monster tune. That’s a 1,2,3 – that’s hard to beat. Fall From The Sky is very Zeppelin IV in style and shows how good a vocalist Darren Smith is. Wasted, the close out track on Side 1, has Paul Di’anno on vocals and is virtually unrecognizable vocally from his Maiden days.

Over to Side 2 we go and Slave gets things under way with a very eerie opening section before a Metallica style riff gets things going. It then settles down into an awesome tune. It’s the stand out track for me so far. Big Mouth is next, with Maria Brink on vocals, and is a very modern sounding rock track. For me it’s the surprise of the album. War Machine is a near lift of multiple Sabbath riffs and is a heavy sounding tune. Redeem Me has the awesome Sass Jordan on vocals, and is a very blues based track which suits her voice perfectly. Last track is the very first song Jake ever wrote when he was trained as a classical pianist, Exquisite Tenderness. It’s good, but I don’t see the point of putting it on here as it’s so out of place.

Anyway, a very good first album and it gets 8.5/10 from The Grooveman.

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