RIDE THE SKY

I had certain hopes pinned on this disc, as it is yet another side project from Uli Kusch, the former drummer of the great Helloween and GAMMA RAY, currently playing for the progressive thrashers Mekong Delta. Plus, the vocal spot features Bjorn Jansson, who delivered excellent vocal performances on Beyond Twilight's latest masterpiece. In short, I was expecting a solid album. Unfortunately, it missed the mark. What Kusch ended up with is a saccharine and thoroughly worn-out heavy-power effort in the vein of the first Masterplan album with Lande, only worse. Much worse. Overabundant keyboards, predictable and — what's even more damning — completely uncatchy musical ideas. Jansson at times sounds a lot like Lande, but unfortunately his range is somewhat narrower, and he is clearly unable to carry mediocre material on his own. Among the tracks I did enjoy, I can only highlight the album-titled opener and the mid-tempo bonus track from the russian edition, "Make The Spirit Burn"... Nothing else left an impression. Very weak.