THE FERRYMEN-The Ferrymen

Frontiers Music srl

This group is living proof that today you can record all over the world and still come up with a top notch CD. Vocalist Ronnie Romero (Lords Of Black and Rainbow) recorded his vocals in Spain, drummer Mike Terrana (Tarja, Axel Rudi Pell) recorded his powerful bashings in Italy while master mind Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Magnus Karlsson’s Freefall) worked from his studio in Sweden, wrote all the songs, produced the record and played guitar, bass and keyboards. Simone Mularoni (DGM) mixed and mastered the CD. If you are familiar with the work that Karlsson has done in the past (I refer especially to the first three Allen/Lande records) you know that the man is a great song writer who is absolutely ‘specialised’ in writing the ultimate metal ballad. There are two cracking jewels on this CD called ,,One Heart’’ and ,,Eternal Night’’, where the big vocal chords of Romero really shine at their fullest, bathing in a rich melodic musical environment of acoustic and electric guitars, smooth orchestral sounding keyboards and tasteful drums. The other songs? Melodic metal at its best. We all know that Romero got chosen by Ritchie Blackmore to sing in Rainbow as the singer reminded him of the late great Ronnie James Dio. Understandable but on this one Romero really shows his full range over and over again. Tracks like ,,Ferryman’’, ,,Fool You All’’, ,,Welcome To My Show, ,,Cry Wolf’’, ,,End Of The Road’’, ,,Eyes On The Sky’’ are all examples of melodic metal at its finest with Karlsson shredding along, Terrana bashing away and Romero showing his power and sense of melody. You can go on and on about the quality and inventive arrangements of the record, but it is better to undergo it, let it come over you and drown yourself in sheer power and beautiful songs.