Review Summary: Jake E. Lee is back!
Red Dragon Cartel is the latest project by guitarist Jake E. Lee, which he formed in 2013. Until that moment Jake was practically missing from sight of the general public for the larger part of the 1990s, following dissolution of
Badlands, and during the 2000s. In that time, he managed to release 3 solo albums to various success, which passed by most of the music enthusiasts. Rest of the time he kept a low profile due to some reasons, until he finally decided to return to the rock arena, which has changed dramatically over the time passed. Without much delay, Red Dragon Cartel released their debut in early 2014. Will it become a pass back into the top echelon for this underrated axe slinger?
Those familiar with the previous albums with Jake on the guitar will immediately notice a heavier sound, chosen for RDC. It is no longer pop metal of the
Ozzy Osbourne days or blues rock of Badlands, it actually elicits comparisons to some of the tracks from his instrumental record
A Fine Pink Mist. The new album primarily has modern and studio-polished metal with touches of industrial and the occasional contagious, practically dancelike, groove.
Befitting the selected musical direction is the vocalist. Unknown D.J. Smith has a deep voice that nicely fits the heavier sound, but it is more effective for its loudness and aggression than wide range. However, to be honest, it also has a certain grating quality to it that requires some getting used to. Because of this his performance on the album can be considered only moderately successful (like on the first two tracks,
Deceived and
Shout It Out) but far from remarkable, and on some of the cuts he acts as the weakest link, occasionally dragging down the solid instrumental performance.
Maybe because of the abovementioned, maybe to attract additional attention to their debut, Jake invited outside vocalists. But again, the results are uneven. The most effective performance goes to Robin Zander of
Cheap Trick on the song
Feeder, the second best cut on the record after
Deceived, and Sass Jordan on
Remind Me. As for the two others – Paul Di’Anno and Maria Brink – they can be rated as “poor” and “average” respectively. In fact, the Di’Anno song
Wasted is the weakest one on the LP, with most of the blame going to the singer, unfortunately, for his chosen weird bleating manner; the lady fares slightly better, but her
Big Mouth cannot be considered one of the stronger tracks.
Focusing back on the person causing the review, it should be stated that regardless of the heavier sound it is great to hear Jake E. Lee remember his origins and serve out solid licks and riffs, as on the abovementioned
Deceived, for example (its main riff somewhat resembles
Bark at the Moon, but it might be intentional). However, it should be acknowledged not one of his songs here reaches the heights of the 1980s and 90s output, but still make for the solid and well-made heavy metal, even though it is not outstanding. Nevertheless, the fans of the six-string samurai have a right to rejoice, since Jake is back on track.
The result is as follows: the Red Dragon Cartel debut feels more like a stepping stone than a definitive artistic statement. It seems that on their first LP the band is looking for their trajectory to follow, and possibly resulted in the record unevenness. In any case, it is nice to see Jake E. Lee back and we wish him an even sturdier second album.
