Of all the albums I’ve reviewed in my three years with Peacedogman, this one may very well win the dubious award of Biggest Disappointment and Most Likely to Get Its Listener’s Ass Kicked. This one sounds so promising on paper, too: Uli Jon Roth, multi-instrumental virtuoso and the man largely credited for the best work of the SCORPIONS, composes a prog/classical album featuring a small army of musicians including former Yngwie/RISING FORCE singer Mark Boals. It’s just too bad that this is an album that takes the term “rock opera” a little too literally: We’re talking Andrew Lloyd Weber here, not SAVATAGE. And the worst part is that it takes half an eternity to get there! This album has more intros than any other album I’ve ever heard, and even those intros have intros! And what does it lead up to? Shit that makes KANSAS sound like KATAKLYSM! Never before has virtuoso talent been wasted in such a dramatic fashion. You may encounter a pretty little instrumental interlude and them BAM – the image of overacting dancers in cat suits gets burned into your psyche. In short, not even high school drama geeks want to be seen in public with this CD! Now where’s my copy of “Never Mind the Bollocks…”?

- Cardona

OFFICIAL SITE: www.ulijonroth.com

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