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Ronny Munroe: The fire within
09/12/09 || Euthanatos
Ronny-boy here was the singer for legendary metallers Metal Church, who were a mighty fine band in their prime, and, hell, even their last effort, “This Present Wasteland”, was pretty decent. Now that the band have chosen to call it a day, Ronny decided to keep spreading the good word, and now releases his first solo record. Unsurprisingly, it sounds a lot like Metal Church.
For starters, Ronny got Metal Church founder/guitar player/leader Kurdt Vanderhoof to produce the album and help him on the songwriting. That in itself speaks volumes of how this album sounds. If that wasn’t enough, Rick van Zandt, guitar player of the last Metal Church line-up is also featured here.
This isn’t a Metal Church album with another name up top, though. Ronny does strive to come into his own, and even in his powerful vocals, he tries to stretch his limits and go into uncharted (for him) territory. Compare, for instance, album opened “Far”, quintessentially Metal Church, the aggressive, slower punch of “Delirium”, the essential ballad “Across the Sea of Souls” and the Iron Maidenesque “Rebuild the Ruins”, with Ronny doing his best Bruce Dickinson impression. That’s a wide gamut of styles that Ronny travels through successfully.
Ronny Munroe seems to have taken all of his influences and made them into a bundle for this album, and I guess that’s what a solo album should sound like. The end result? A fun album, albeit repetitive, unpretentious enough, aiming only to make your head bang and your feet tap.
The production sounds much like what was heard on “This Present Wasteland”, heavy, but not contemporary heavy, enough not to sound dated, but not packing enough a punch to get the new kids interested. I, for one, would have enjoyed some more guitar tracks, more layers to give the overall feel some more depth. After all, the guitars are the highlight of the album, after Ronny’s vocals, of course, with Rick , Queensryche’s Michael Wilton and THC’s Izzy Rehame making up quite the all-star ensemble.
At the very end, we get a cover for Rainbow’s “The Man on the Silver Mountain”, which is an epic song, and fits Ronny’s style nicely, even if he comes nowhere close to Dio in terms of vocal performance.
If you were/are a Metal Church fan, this is definitely up your alley, or if you’re into NWOBHM, this might also strike you as pleasing. It’s not revolutionary, absolutely nothing new, but people like Ronny Munroe are the guys that keep metal alive, and I for one I’m happy to see him keeping the flame alive. As gay and cheesy as that sounds.
The cover: This, I do not like. Looks like it was done by a 13-year-old on MS Paint. No. No.
- Information
- Released: 2009
- Label: Rat Pak
- Website: Ronny Munroe MySpace
- Band
- Ronny Munroe: vocals
- Rick Van Zandt: guitars
- Michael Wilton: guitars
- Randy Cooper: guitars
- Izzy Rehame: bass
- Johnny Ringo: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Far
- 02. What You Choose To Call Hell (I Call Home)
- 03. Deafening Hypocrisy
- 04. Rebuild The Ruins
- 05. Delirium
- 06. Demon Opera
- 07. Across The Sea Of Souls
- 08. Desperate Man
- 09. Ivory Towers
- 10. Evil Genius
- 11. Ride Me
- 12. Man On The Silver Mountain
