This is the first solo album from the man behind
Elf and
The Rods, an experienced gentleman by the name of David "Rock"
Feinstein, the title of the album referring to, that this is his third musical endeavour.
That the music springs from the same fountain as that of his cousin and co-founder of Elf, Ronnie James Dio, is to be heard.
It is melodic, guitar powered Heavy Metal with bluesy undertones, and
John West's vocals suits the music in a great way.
With Third Wish, we get an album, that is not amazingly great, neither is it bad. A lot of good music is to be found, but not many elements stick out as totally amazing or breathtaking.
There are some really cool tunes to be found here, for sure. But in a lot of places I get the feeling that some songs suffers from a lack of innovation, more interesting details or a better, more diverse structure. It shines through, that the record is written by a guitarist (
Feinstein, of course) and a singer (
John West), because it often becomes evident, that the songs are built on these two elements only, both the vocal lines, the melodic guitar parts and solos usually work fine, while the rhythm section isn't offered a lot of attention, and thus easily seems a little too generic. This gives some songs a feeling of being a little too monotonous and not consistent enough. Of course simple music can work, but far from all songs here do that.
Regeneration is a straight ahead, chorus based rocker, and works fine in the beginning, but very quickly gets to a stagnating point. The bass and guitar sound of the album is great, thick and crunchy, and right away I acknowledged
John West as a good match for the album, with his melodic and strong voice. The song has it's moments and doesn't belong in the trash bin, but quickly becomes trivial and repetitive, especially the bass and drums are very monotonous.
The more blues oriented and slower
Rebelution seems as unoriginal and repetitive, even though
Feinstein tries to spice it up with the expected guitar play-around and solo, it is just not enough to save the song from being boring.
From here, it only gets better, and the record hits a line of fine songs, starting with the cool
Streaming Star, a good example of a simple song, that just works, with it's rocking attitude, galloping rhythm and good melody.
The hyper melodic titletrack follows, including a huge chorus and a high level of consistency. A good structure and more variation between the parts, gives us a quality track.
Rule The World has a great drive, a good dose of melodic catchiness, and comes across as a cool track in the traditional Metal way.
Masquarade is one of the small diamonds that is to be found on Third Wish, a very captivating melody and great variation makes the song stand out.
The main riff in
Far Beyond is obviously not
Feinstein's own idea, but more or less straight-out ripped off from Dio's Holy Diver. I must admit the song is cool and rocks all the way, and the song as a whole isn't a complete imitation, only the tempo and main riff is borrowed.
Poison Ivy is for some reason one of my favorites on the album, with it's blues inspired profile and slow, seductive tempo, I get caught up in the song's universe each time. The strong refrain and
John West's melodic vocals also enhance the overall experience, making this song a winner.
Live To Ride, Ride To Live sees the return to dull and uninspired songs, which seem like fillers to me. Not very catchy, exciting or challenging in any way to my ears.
Firefighter continues this unfortunate way, though the chorus is very catchy, but as we all know, that is not enough, and the song seems stretched, though it isn't very long.
The conclusion must be, that you won't go totally wrong with this album, if you like old, uncomplicated Metal in the rocking spectre, with bluesy undertones.
Though it has it's fair share of songs, that are easily forgotten, the good outweighs the bad, and the overall impression of a fine release shines through!
Written by
Nina Tuesday, February 1, 2005
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