I don’t relish writing about albums which don’t speak to me, but sometimes I still do. I covered the debut solo record from the legendary Ray Alder a couple of years ago, and now the sophomore album has arrived. I started the review for the debut with how nervous a solo album this late in one’s career can make me, and the debut delivered and dissipated my anxiety. The sophomore album, II, unfortunately is the album I was worried Ray would make the first time. It released on June 9th.
Ray needs no introduction, really. The frontman of Fates Warning, A-Z, and ex-Redemption has a long history of high-quality albums. For this record, he also brings with him Mike Abdow on guitars, Tony Hernando on bass, and Craig Anderson on drums. These three lay down some great performances, at least as far as the content allows.
For progressive metal fans, Ray’s solo work might not quite feel the same as his past releases. This is melodic metal with some progressive elements, but it’s mostly pretty straightforward and focused on vocals, naturally. There are some good riffs and a few solos, but it’s mostly by the book here.
I’ll just say it. This album feels like leftovers from the debut. Of the nine songs, I only like three of them. Those would be “This Hollow Shell”, “My Oblivion”, and “Those Words I Bled”. That should be a red flag immediately, too, since two of those were singles released for promotion of the album. “This Hollow Shell” has a great groove to it, though I’ll admit that the chorus feels drawn out, like Ray wasn’t sure where to go with it. “My Oblivion” is easily my favorite on the album with its awesome, leering guitars and concise chorus; I really like this song and feel it will be a favorite of the year. If you are hoping for more songs like that one, you won’t find it here. Anyways, those two songs open the album. “Those Words I Bled” is track 7, and is one of the more emotional and memorable songs here; it has a great lumbering metal sort of vibe, and I really like the lyrics.
The other six tracks just don’t cut it for me. They aren’t bad songs, per se, but they feel tired and stale. I also feel like the melodies and choruses needed more time in development; many of them feel aimless and like Ray wasn’t sure how to resolve them or wasn’t sure which lyrics would work. “Waiting for Some Sun” is a good example of this—the final line of the chorus is drawn out past the melody’s natural limits, and it just sounds so bad. There are other moments like that strewn throughout the record.
Most of the songs feel like that, or else they are just plum uninteresting, such as “Hands of Time”. They will have some great riffs and even some wonderful verses, but the album overall lacks hooks and inspired choruses to stick the landing. The debut had those hooks in spades, which is why it is still so good, but this album feels like other ideas that didn’t make the cut, and now Ray’s tried to rely on his fantastic voice to make them work. They don’t.
Ray is a legend and his voice is as good as ever, but this album just isn’t for me. It feels much like his A-Z release last year, which had the same problem of great instrumentation with weak hooks and melodies. If you liked that album, you might like this one, but I’m looking for something which actually matches Ray’s vocal power. I’m not sure I’ll listen to this one again.
__________________
Find Ray Alder online:
__________________
__________________
The PROG Mind 