ALCATRAZZ – Born Innocent

At one point or another, English-American metallers Alcatrazz have counted  Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai amongst their ranks. This post-hiatus line-up is less well-endowed with ‘name players’, but it doesn’t seem to have forced the band in a different direction. For here amongst the glossy 21st century production, is tech-metal prised from an 80s time-capsule.

It’s the type of thing that gum-chewing teenagers might have listened to as they arranged their mullets ahead of a night out on the strip. Big solos flavoured with arpeggios and harmonic minor scales.  Histrionic vocals aping the squeezed-ball highs of vintage Gillan. Frankly ludicrous subject matter that only lonely school kids and old rockers think is cool. It’s all here, watermarked with the neon stamp of 80s approval.

The problem is that TARDIS-tunes only go anywhere if the songs are either spell-bindingly good or have something new to say. This album, alas, meets neither criteria. It’s not for want of trying:  Graham Bonnet and co. have recruited the likes of Steve Vai and Japanese shredder Nozomu Wakai to help out. But despite the credentials of the supporting cast, there’s just not enough here to warrant the big name reputation.

Opener “Born Innocent” could just as well have been the victim of Emperor Joseph’s criticisms as Mozart’s “The Abduction from the Seraglio or Harem”. Notes rain down while Bonnet wails away in strictly functional fashion. Irish-influenced stomp “Finn McCool” follows a similar template. The epic reach of the band’s influences only surfaces by the time “I Am The King” rocks round. Here at least there’s a held-back melody and guitar soloing that occasionally lingers on a note long enough to project some meaning.

The pick of the rest of the tracks is probably “Warth Lane”, a piece of mid-tempo sludge that features Mellotron-esque strings and some pleasingly-lyrical guitar. As for the rest, the buffet of retreads and shredfests are liable to cause aural indigestion if listened to in one sitting.