RON COOLEN – Rise [feat. Keith St. John, Göran Edman, George Lynch] (2021) *EXCLUSIVE*

“Rise” is the debut album from Dutch multi-instrumentalist RON COOLEN, an album inspired by the classic hard rock sound from the ’80s and he has gathered a stellar line up of world class musicians from the genre: we have top singer Keith St. John (Burning Rain, Kingdom Come, Lynch Mob, Montrose) providing most the vocals, but also Göran Edman, George Lynch, Thorsten Koehne (Eden’s Curse), Steve Lamb (Tygers of Pan Tang), and many more.
The album only was released in Holland past year, but will receive international distribution in a few weeks.
We have some killer stuff here, very well recorded & produced.

As soon as the needle hits the groove, we are introduced to the amazing voice of Keith St. John who of course has worked his magic with Montrose, Kingdom Come, Lynch Mob to name but a few. The highly addictive “Big Devil Data” opens proceedings, a track driven by a chugging guitar work and the delicious solos on this opener instantly have you hooked.
This song has a huge significance to the Dutch man, the very first riff he ever wrote in a garage band back in the day. there’s as well intelligent and in-depth lyrics dealing with the world we live in today where technology has become boss and runs and even ruins lives as we are all becoming slaves to these machines.

I love “White Summer”. This is a total eargasm as St. John and cohorts bring Led Zep inspired riffs and soul to the room, this is immense as St. John shows off those bluesy vocals to great effect. This is sublime and has you drooling for the sweet sugar and warm balmy nights as this song winds and twists itself into you with fine work from Stéphan Forté making his guitar sing at the solo, without doubt one of the best tracks on here.

“Too Late to Surrender” has an absolutely stunning guitar solo delivered by Johannes Persson, a relatively unknown young axe-slinger. We are taken back to those heady days of the Eighties as the steamy and raunchy “Sin City” booms outta the speakers, as the one and only George Lynch makes an appearance on this kick ass number.
The Eighties groove continues on “Shoot your Devils Down” as Coolen delivers some solos and Steve Lamb once of Tygers Of Pan Tang kicks out some meaty riffs as well, this really does shake the foundations.

“Ashes to Ashes” deals with the worst fire in California’s history. The spoken word instrumental takes you back to November 2018 when the town of Paradise burned in this urban firestorm. “Paradise” follows and the lyrics written by Francoise Vaal and dedicated to the citizens of Paradise hit home and makes you wonder why this tragedy was not more widely known in the world. St Johns feelings and passion shine out in this song, its more of a relaxed number, compared to the rest of the album, effective and heartfelt.

This release takes a totally different direction as the metallic “Kill Kill Kill” decimates your brain cells; a fast, furious and face melting superb track that many bands from the Bay area would be proud to have in their repertoire. Featuring the talents of Joey Concepcion, Christopher Amott, and vocals from Sam Walters this ferocious meaty morsel will sate many headbanger’s hunger.

Title track “Rise” is a 49 second instrumental which leads into the progressive “Stories” this time featuring former Mutiny Within vocalist Chris Clancy. A captivating piece full of aggression and malice. Again, Clancy takes over vocal duties on the face melting “From Your Mouth” with a blistering solo courtesy of Joey Concepcion; this machine gun rocker is venom into your body.

The amazing Göran Edman brings this album to a close. His contribution to “Selfishness” is outstanding with a taste of Asia added into the mix, melodic and with very interesting arrangements
I really love the depth and detail that has gone into this opus, and hope this twelve-track debut gets the recognition it rightly deserves.

Only at 0dayrox

01 – Big Devil Data (feat. Keith St. John & Thorsten Koehne)
02 – White Summer (feat. Keith St. John & Stéphan Forté)
03 – Too Late to Surrender (feat. Keith St. John & Johannes Persson)
04 – Sin City (feat. George Lynch & Keith St. John)
05 – Gotta Shoot Your Devils Down (feat. K. St. John, J. Concepcion, S. Lamb)
06 – Ashes to Ashes (instrumental)
07 – Paradise (feat. Keith St. John & Daniël Verberk)
08 – Kill Kill Kill (feat. Christopher Amott, J. Concepcion, S. Walters, J. Gallagher)
09 – Rise (instrumental)
10 – Stories (feat. Chris Clancy, Stéphan Forté, Joey Concepcion)
11 – From your Mouth (feat. Chris Clancy, Joey Concepcion, Steve Lamb)
12 – Selfishness (feat. Göran Edman, Joey Concepcion)

Ron Coolen – Guitar, Bass, Drums, Keyboards
Keith St. John (Burning Rain, Kingdom Come, Lynch Mob, Montrose) vocals
Göran Edman (Yngwie Malmsteen) vocals
Sam Walters (Driven Mad) vocals
Chris Clancy (Mutiny Within, Wearing Scars) vocals
George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) guitar
Thorsten Koehne (Eden’s Curse) guitar
Steve Lamb (Tygers of Pan Tang) guitar
Christopher Amott (Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquillity, solo artist) guitar
Stéphan Forté (Adagio, solo artist) guitar
Joey Concepcion (Armageddon, The Absence, Sanctuary) guitar
Johannes Persson (solo artist, Kerbera) guitar
Daniel Verberk (Physical Graffiti) guitar

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www.bol.com/nl/p/ron-coolen-rise/9300000002010985/?
www.roncoolen.rocks/product-page/ron-coolen-rise