Review

Band: Rob Rock

Album: Garden of Chaos

Reviewer: Jeff

The last Rob Rock album, "Holy Hell", was a highlight of 2005 for me, so I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of this album. Especially since this album also features an excellent list of guest appearances: Roy Z (Bruce Dickinson), and Gus G (Firewind) on guitars, and Bobby Jarzombek (Riot, Halford, Demons and Wizards) on drums. Also, being that the majority of the songs are written by Roy Z and the album is produced by him, good things are expected. Well, not only are good things expected, they basically can't fail.

The album kicks off with a bang with its title track, which is probably one of the best songs I've heard all year. The riffs are heavy, the vocals are strong, and the chorus is really really catchy. It makes you just want to put your fist in the air and sing along. No surprise that it's so good, it was written by Gus G. The next couple of songs are all very good, but somewhat lacking in identity... The choruses to just about every song are fairly strong, and the solos are impressive. The album begins to pick up towards the late middle of it, with the songs "Only a Matter of Time" and the killer metal anthem "Metal Breed". Following that is another awesome track, "Millennial Reign", the fastest song on the disc, the soloing is fucking insane, as is all the musicianship, including Rob's vocals. Following that we have, "Unconditional", the token ballad, but I like this one more than the one featured on Holy Hell. It's good, but when you've got material like the heavy stuff on this disc, you tend to skip the ballad on a regular basis. After that, we've got "Ride the Wind", the final highlight of the album, featuring a fantastic solo by Gus G and the ever-gymnastic drumming of Bobby Jarzombek, this song just kicks you in the teeth and makes you want to bang your head. Finally, we wrap it all up with "Ode to Alexander", which is ballad-esque, but just comes off as more of a somber epilogue to the album.

All in all, after about 5 listens now, I love this album, and it's definitely a highlight of the year for me. If you like classic heavy metal, particularly the last 3 Bruce Dickinson albums, you will love this. The combination of these musicians with Rob's voice makes for a killer album that is sure to stay in rotation for me for some time to come.

Jeff's Rating: 90%