Japan’s Blaze and their ‘Rock Dinosaur’ is their follow up EP to the stunning self-titled debut that landed this way a while back. This band may hark back to the glory days of hard rock and metal and the EP title doesn’t really help with any modernistic stance, but that’s not what this band is about. They are steeped in the hey days of late 70’s and early 80’s heavy metal, very similar still to the trio of albums made by the Scorpions that kicked their career into gear (‘Virgin Killer’, ‘In Trance’ and ‘Taken By Force’).
Beginning with ‘One Way Flight’ the band makes their intentions clear. Uli Jon Roth and R. Schenker are clearly a massive influence and there is also a really cool vocal tone and melody delivered by Wataru Shiota. There is still a slight nasal presence in his vocal delivery, this I find quite similar, especially with the heavy broken English accent, to Heavy Load’s Wahlquist brothers and in fact some of the early 80’s Swedish bands in general. This positive trait is very noticeable on ‘Shed Light On Dark’ which ends with some great guitar licks just to seal the deal.
‘Right In White Light’ is more bluesy and is a track with acclaimed musicians delivering real soul through their music, it has a wondrous groove to it. Then you get too ‘Underground Heroes’ which I feel perfectly describes this band. The energy is a touch more metal, very Scorpions again and so much fun, especially the guitar solo and lyrics that have a few pointers to dear old England’s musical heritage.
‘Lady of Starlight’ closes this EP and really sets your pulse racing as you will have witnessed genuine hard rock and metal that is very addictive and whilst some cynics may scoff, I really don’t give a damn. This band and this release, along with their debut album, are classic slabs of hard rock and metal with a key inclusion of melody delivered with vintage appeal.
(9/10 Paul Maddison)
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