PHIL VINCENT‘s new album “Master Of Deception” (his 26th solo!) will be released next November 22, as usual with the musician handling all instruments and vocals except the guitar solos, performed by long time friend and collaborator Vince O’Regan.
Vincent solo efforts tend to be melodic rock oriented, however “Master Of Deception” is quite hard n’ heavy, with edgy razor rhythm guitars and social lyrics criticizing media alienation, politics, etc. Still, melody is the rule, and we find other topics on a few songs.
“Jade Helm” opens the proceedings with bombast to spare. “Evil Wants” and “Path of Destruction” turn up the metal mayhem only to be brought to a melodic rock impasse with “Obsolete (Already Gone)”, and a highlight, the Winger-influenced “Fight ’til the End” which starts with cool synths.
The heaviness returns with “Grifter”, the gritty hard rocker “Wanted” and “Abandoned”, which leads into epilogue burner “New Day Dawning”.
One of Phil Vincent’s strong points is that he always presents his music with enough variation and on ”Master Of Deception” this is no different. As said, most tracks are nicely rousing, balanced by a couple of melodic hard rockers, while midtempo “Can You Feel It” adds piano alongside razor riffs and a swirling guitar solo.
Strong stuff. Highly Recommended
Tracklist:
1. Jade Helm (02:16)
2. Evil Wants (03:46)
3. Grifter (03:09)
4. Abandoned (03:42)
5. Path of Destruction (03:09)
6. Obsolete (Already Gone) (06:44)
7. One Step Away (04:15)
8. Wanted (03:12)
9. Can You Feel It (05:56)
10. Fight 'til the End (07:34)
11. New Day Dawning (01:12)
Phil Vincent – Master of Deception 2024, MP3+FLAC