Review Summary: The ex-Evile guitarists displays his inner guitar virtuoso.
It's highly suggestive that Ol Drake isn't really taking himself seriously with his debut solo album. For one thing, half of the songs' titles tend to be comedic homages to the greats (I.e., "Han Valen", "I'll be Bach" and *ahem* "Guitarists Playing Guitars"). But what else is the ex-Evile guitarist supposed to do in his free time? Surely after a sudden exit from Evile, producing a solo album is inevitable! That's exactly what Ol Drake has done, and undoubtedly, the man has pulled no punches in the production and recording of each of these ten tracks. He hasn't done it all on his own-alas, numerous guest appearances have been used and (sometimes) abused, featuring none other than Gary Holt, Mike Heller on drums and Josh Middleton among others. Put simply, Drake seems to be having the time of his life right about now.
So, musically, you'll probably know what to expect. Or you won't, because this is certainly no half-hearted, re-hashed homage to Evile's take on all things thrash. You'll realize this when the opening salvo of "Han Valen" (no prizes for guessing the reference of a certain famous rock band) begins. This classic metal take features an abundance of face-melting riffs, menacing solos and a production which is as concise as it could be in the confines of a recording studio. There's no doubt here that Drake is simply showing off. Well, of course he is. It just wouldn't be a solo album if he wasn't, surely? And that's exactly the impression you get when listening to the more technical stylings of "Onions", "Emperor", and to a lesser extent, "The Rake Waltz". There is a lot of variation here however. Some songs contrast others so much you'd be forgiven for thinking that it's really just an album full of covers as opposed to original songs. And whilst some songs indeed seem to rely on homages to musical giants of the past ("I'll be Bach" is self-explanatory), this solo album is 100% Drake talent.
As excellent as some of the material here is, there are moments where Drake makes a misstep, and unfortunately these are the same moments where the listener will simply cringe at the end product. Let's take the album's most cringeworthy song as an example, "Guitarists Playing Guitars", the title itself suggesting more of a gimmick than anything else. It certainly has guitarists, and good ones as well. Gary Holt, James Murphy, Amit Sharma, Josh Middleton-they're all there to make sure nothing ever gets stagnant. Yet the song itself is only five minutes, and such an average song length can only take so many ideas at once. That's exactly why the song in the end turns out to be quite forgettable, because as excellent as each guest's input is, there's really nothing in the way of structure-it's just a big ball of riffs and solos. If that's your thing however, you're in for a bundle of joy. This is thankfully more than made up for by some of the more "sensible" songs, namely the beautiful, slightly orientally-styled musings of album highlight "Emperor", which by the end leaves the listener's mouth agape. It is but one of a few songs on
Old Rake (See also "The Rake Waltz" and "Onions") which channels the talented instrumental strengths of Ol Drake himself, and this is also where you decide whether or not he's better off without Evile. An album full of songs like this would surely be heaven to the budding guitar virtuosos out there!
Drake's instrumental techniques don't always work as well as they should. "I'll be Bach" (the sub-title is simply "Get It?") is 90 seconds of guitar noodling and "An Absence" is more like a soundtrack to one of those romantic ghost stories on the SyFy channel (Comment below if you even know what that channel is), so much so that listeners will be (love)sick to death of it. Yet as a whole, Ol Drake's debut solo album is a real corker most of the time. Sure, it's more appealing to fans of Drake's work with Evile or technical guitarists more than anything else, but it's simply a barrel of fun. And who's having the most fun here? Drake of course. Don't take it too seriously, and you'll surely enjoy it.
