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Soulful and bluesy, old-school heavy rock, in the best Free /
BadCo / Led Zeppelin / Whitesnake tradition.
Add a funky base à la Trapeze, and The Lizards is what
you get.
“Cold Blooded Kings” is already The Lizards’ third studio
album. Driving power behind this American band are bassist Randy
Pratt and guitarist Patrick Klein, founders of the Hyperspace label,
which specializes in releasing new music by classic 70’s rock bands
(Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Blue Cheer). The
Lizards’ music can be viewed as a tribute to that era. Former
Rainbow / Black Sabbath drummer Bobby Rondinelli has
recently left his regular band, Blue Öyster Cult, in order to
become a permanent Lizards member, and it isn’t hard to see
why. His playing is very prominent here, and he gets loads of
freedom to show his impressive range of trickery. With the departure
of John Garner, the band has lost some of the depth in the vocal
department. Newcomer Mike Di Meo (Riot) doesn’t have that
raw, natural bluesy voice, but he manages very well here, although
those Coverdale and Rodgers imitations are a bit too obvious.
Some great songs here, from the powerful opener “The Opal Crest Of
Zed” and the excellent title track, to the tongue-in-cheek “We Are
Dinosaurs”. The slow and moody “Down” is one of the songs which
already struck me when I saw them live, and it’s one of the best
tracks on the album as well, despite the all-too-obvious Free
likeness. Another highlight is the quirky “Hyperspace”, which starts
off as a traditional blues song (with a harmonica) and then evolves
into quite an eclectic instrumental (MSG’s “Into The Arena”
comes to mind, among others). Excellent.
“Cold Blooded Kings” is a fine CD, with a couple of great songs,
played by fine musicians. This album won’t win them prizes for
originality, but for greying rockers who still crave for this kind
of traditional hard rock, The Lizards are quite a revelation. |
