I Am The Fire

I haven't followed Ozzy for years, so I wasn't familiar with Gus, but I was intrigued by his line-up of guest stars, so I ordered it and man, was I glad I did. I wasn't worried about his playing skills, Ozzy always works with top-notch talent, but song writing is another thing all together. And knowing that it is a solo album, you sort of have to prepare yourself because you never know how far off the reservation into experimental territory an artist is going to go when they break out on their own. Gus, however, seems to have defied the odds by releasing an album of solid songs while utilizing to the fullest the individual talents of each of his guests. The majority of the songs are fronted by Mats Leven (a fantastic choice) and that would have been a great album, but like many solo albums, Gus collaborated with a group of other friends and artists. Usually when you have a rotating lineup of guest musicians, it is really difficult to create any sort of continuity or a cohesive style. But, it's really only a problem if the songs aren't good. (That is what ultimately doomed Jake E. Lee's latest project, Red Dragon Cartel) When the songs are good, nobody cares whether or not they fit together and these songs are good. The Leven songs are great, the Englund song sounds like Evergrey, the Soto song sounds like Talisman ... It's all good. There are a couple of impressive instrumentals and a couple of really good, but more modern sounding tracks with Blake Allison. Michael Starr (Ralph Saenz) took a break from the parody rock band Steel Panther to record a real song and some other girl I don't know did a great job too. Bottom line – great talent, great songs, just an all-around great effort. — Scott