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Dario Mollo & Tony Martin | The Cage 2

Second fruitful cooperation between a talented singer and great guitarist.
CD, Frontiers/Bertus

Tekst: Vinodh Lalta

Publicatiedatum: 28 september 2002

The Cage 2 is the second album by Italian guitarist Dario Mollo and British vocalist Tony Martin. For the barbarians reading this review: Tony Martin is NOT the guy from Mr. Big (that was Eric Martin!), but he was the lead singer with Black Sabbath from 1987 till 1995. In that period, he recorded some of the finest albums in the history of hard rock. Unfortunately, as the world is filled with narrow-minded Ozzy fans, Tony Martin never received the credit he fully deserved as one of the best singers on this planet. Dario Mollo is the man responsible for the music on this album. Some of his previous work includes the fabulous The Cage (also with Tony Martin) from 1999, and the album Voodoo Hill (with ex-Deep Purple lead singer Glenn Hughes). Furthermore, he's well known for his skills as a producer (e.g., for Anathema). Mr. Mollo grew up listening to bands like Whitesnake and Deep Purple. This can easily be heard from The Cage 2, as this album is a "classic" hard rock album with a genuine '80s feel.

In a time where a lot of bands try to be the next Dream Theater or Rhapsody by putting a gazillion different riffs and tempo breaks in each song, it's simply refreshing to hear an album filled with straight-forward hard rock songs like these. The Cage 2 sounds like a continuation of the work that Tony Martin did with Black Sabbath, albeit a lot less heavy, both in music as well as text. The gloom and doom from the Sabbath days are replaced by lyrics about love and romance. Mr. Martin is singing more passionately than ever before, and Dario Mollo proves, on each of the songs on this record, to be an excellent guitar player and songwriter.

Beside eleven superb songs written by these two gentlemen, this album contains a cover song. Whereas the previous album featured a cover of Deep Purple's Stormbringer, for this album Dazed And Confused by Led Zeppelin was chosen. This track is most definitely the highlight of this album, as Tony Martin showcases his full talent as a singer. He wails and screams like a banshee, and with his powerful Dio-like voice he actually gives Robert Plant a run for his money.

Okay, maybe the whole love-thing gets old after a while, and the many "ooohs" and "aaaahhs" in the backing vocals may sound a bit sappy, but still, this is a record that stands out by far from the tons of crap reaching the record stores every month. So, if you've enjoyed Headless Cross and Forbidden, or simply like melodic hard rock, just go out and buy this album! But then again, you might just as well stay in and order it online.

http://www.kindamuzik.net/recensie/dario-mollo-tony-martin/the-cage-2/1899/
Meer Dario Mollo & Tony Martin op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/dario-mollo-tony-martin