PHILL ROCKER – Hard To Bleed (2015)
Born in Lisbon, Portugal, but based in L.A. the appropriately monikered PHILL ROCKER is singer / songwriter presenting his debut CD “Hard To Bleed“, a fifteen track opus full of edgy hard rock songs interspersed with the occasional heartfelt ballad.
It’s impressive enough that Rocker has written all of the songs himself, put together a bunch of like-minded individuals to form the nucleus of his band – expertly co-produced it along with his rhythm guitar playing cohort Ricardo Fernandes and Swede Tobias Lindell (H.E.A.T, Europe) – and independently released the album.
But what’s even more impressive is the number of high-profile special guests that add even more gravitas to the proceedings. Brian Tichy (Whitesnake) is the drummer for all tracks, while his former colleague Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake, Burning Rain, Revolution Saints) augments five songs with his inimitable soloing technique.
Former White Lion / Megadeth bassist James Lomenzo appears on various tracks as well, along with a couple of showings from the Guns N’ Roses duo of keyboardist Dizzy Reed and guitarist Richard Fortus, while former Judas Priest vocalist Tim Ripper Owens adds vocals to ‘So Close To Hell’ and some Metal screams to the album’s heaviest cut ‘False Humanity’.
Even without the special guests which raise the bar higher, this would still be an enjoyable release, the likes of ‘Wasted Generation (In Me)’, ‘Feel Inside My Life’, the groovy ‘Open Wide’ (great solo by Aldrich), the thumping ‘Burning In The Fire’ and ‘Devil On The Loose’ are all anthemic rockers that will liven up any traditional hard rock fan’s day.
‘How Does It Feel’ is a very good melodic midtempo, ‘Empty Inside’ a compelling ballad, the bluesy ‘Incomplete’ adds some acoustics to provide variation, while closer ‘So Unreal’ is perhaps the more melodic hard rock oriented tune on the record with some ‘Swedish’ feel.
“Hard To Bleed” is proof that you can record and release by yourself a hard rock album with high quality standards. Production is top notch (you can hear Tobias Lindell’s touch), the musicianship first rate and Phill Rocker has – the most important thing – great skills writing songs in this style.
His vocals are raspy and slightly unidirectional, but the man is clever choosing the right modulation for each track. If I have one complaint then perhaps fifteen tracks is rather a lot to digest in one sitting these days (the 2 extra alternate versions were not necessary), but that said the quality remains consistent throughout.
Strongly Recommended.
01 – Wasted Generation (In Me)
02 – So Close to Hell
03 – Feel Inside My Life
04 – Masquerade of Feelings
05 – Open Wide
06 – Burning in the Fire
07 – Devil On the Loose
08 – How Does It Feel
09 – Drifting Away
10 – Empty Inside
11 – For All the Reasons
12 – Incomplete
13 – Glorified
14 – False Humanity
15 – So Unreal
16 – Feel Inside My Life (Single Version) [bonus]
17 – Glorified (Alternative Version) [bonus]
Vocals: Phill Rocker
Ricardo Fernandes: Rhythm Guitars, Co-Producer
Brian Tichy: Drums
James Lomenzo, Nuno Correia: Bass
Gonçalo Pereira: Guitar
Doug Aldrich: Guitar Solos, Backing Vocals
Dizzy Reed: Keyboards
Tim “Ripper” Owens: Vocals
Mixed & Co-Produced by: Tobias Lindell.
BUY IT !
www.cdbaby.com/cd/phillrocker
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