EZOO (Graham Bonnet / Dario Mollo) – Feeding The Beast (2017)
Legendary singer Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, Alcatrazz) has joined forces with guitarist and producer Dario Mollo in a new project called EZOO. The band’s debut album, “Feeding The Beast“, will be released on June 2 via earMusic.
Grooving and stomping music with the great feeling straight from the golden days of hard rock, EZOO features the immediately recognizable voice of Bonnet and Mollo’s melodic and powerful guitars.
And this baby really rocks.
While Dario Mollo is well known for his collaboration with Glenn Hughes in Voodoo Hill and his three albums with former Black Sabbath singer Tony Martin (Mollo / Martin, The Cage), you can claim that probably every rock fan has heard the biting and unique voice of Bonnet before.
Drawing on the experience of these two rich Rock careers, the two leaders of EZOO obviously know how to craft a killer Hard Rock song.
Nobody is free from a good dose of nostalgia, but the pair has created an album that catches the charm and the grandeur of the classic hard rock sounds but comes in a modern and contemporary guise.
These days, Bonnet may not be able to reach the higher vocal notes performing live, but darn, into the studio the man still deliver the goods. And in spades.
Mollo’s expertise hand as producer has taken out the best of Graham Bonnet in EZOO’s “Feeding The Beast”, the singer feels and sounds like a young shouter in his twenties!
The opening track is ‘You are Your Wallet’, a catchy, upbeat hard rocker, the perfect song to start the album. Mollo’s riffs are to die for and Bonnet shines.
‘C’est la Vie’ is a killer, groovy heavy tune with lots of melody and superb solos, then the ‘Guys from God’ provides even more classic riffs and elaborated harmony vocal arrangements.
One of my favorite tracks on the album is the title track, ‘Feeding the Beast’. It’s a melodic song with strong guitar riffs in the vein of Tony Martin solo album, with different passages (some awesomely atmospheric) where Bonnet’s vocals are amazing.
‘Eyes of the World’ is driven by a great rhythm, ‘Too High to Be Falling’ is very melodious and groovy, while midtempo ‘Don’t Look Back’ has a strong ’80s feel.
Another one of my favorite tracks is ‘Motorbike’, a punchy hard rocker plenty of magic, and Bonnet here simply kills. You would never know that he is almost in his 70’s. Damn he belts out some amazing notes in this song.
Also included on the album are two of Bonnet’s classic tracks he recorded with Rainbow; ‘Eyes of the World’ and the classic ‘Since You Been Gone’. Perhaps you’re guessing if these versions were necessary… well, let me tell you that both are great. And are a proper addition to the album because Mollo has provided his own musical spin to them, and Bonnet feels like fish in the water. His performance is as good in 2017 as he did in the originals.
This Graham Bonnet / Dario Mollo collaboration called EZOO has really surprised me. I wasn’t expecting that much, but “Feeding The Beast” is a KILLER classic Hard Rock record full of fire.
The songwriting, performances and vibrant production are stupendous, and if you thought old rockers ‘can’t rock’ anymore, you better check this CD.
AWESOME
01. You Are Your Wallet
02. The Flight of the Sapini
03. C’est la Vie
04. Guys from God
05. Feeding the Beast
06. Eyes of the World
07. Colder Than Cool
08. Too High to Be Falling
09. Motorbike
10. Since You Been Gone
11. Don’t Look Back
12. Coda
Graham Bonnet (vocals)
Dario Mollo (guitars, keyboards)
Dario Patti, Guido Block (bass)
Roberto Gualdi (drums)
Pre-Order
www.amazon.de/Feeding-Beast-Ezoo/dp/B06ZYW71JV
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