Tim "Ripper" Owens rocketed from anonymity to fame when he was picked to replace
Rob Halford in
Judas Priest; he's since continued to impress die-hard metal fans with his work fronting
Iced Earth and performing on the latest
Yngwie Malmsteen album. This, his debut as a solo artist, isn't any kind of break with his past; the opposite is true, in fact.
Play My Game is a metal album that all but denies that anything's happened in the music since 1982. The riffs could all have come off a
Judas Priest,
Dio, or
Accept album, and
Owens' delivery continues to owe its very existence to
Rob Halford's and
Ronnie James Dio's examples (there's a little bit of
Axl Rose in his voice on a couple of songs, too). But that very classicism has made
Owens a lot of friends among musicians he likely grew up idolizing. Consequently, the album is stuffed with guest guitar solos by folks like
Steve Stevens, former
Kiss member
Bruce Kulick,
Whitesnake's
Doug Aldrich,
Savatage's
Chris Caffery, and more. Similarly, the bass chair is filled on various tracks by ex-
Megadeth member
David Ellefson,
Billy Sheehan of
Mr. Big and
David Lee Roth's solo band,
Quiet Riot's
Rudy Sarzo, and others, and the drummers include
Simon Wright of
AC/DC and
Rhino Bucket, and
Bobby Jarzombek of
Halford. Which is great for fans who track guest appearances like baseball stats, but the guitarists are the only ones who get real showcases for their skills, and the songs they're guesting on are largely unmemorable. Based on this material,
Owens could sell out a medium-sized club, or deliver a killer set opening a bigger act's tour, but he's got to find a way to be memorable on his own terms if he's gonna have a career as more than an extremely talented hired gun. ~ Phil Freeman
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