Lenny Wolf’s KINGDOM COME returned to Germany in the early ’90s and continued with the band’s classic sound, fortunately not riding the wagon of that decade Rock mainstream trend. After the solid 1995 release ‘Twilight Cruiser’, Lenny wrote, recorded, produced & mixed this next KINGDOM COME album titled “Master Seven”.
Sonically similar to its predecessor, “Master Seven” is perhaps less hard rocking and more melodic, moody, ‘Kashmir-inspired‘ classic rock. A fairly mellow album, that’s not to say it’s all ballads, though there are plenty of those here, such as the melancholic “Can’t Let Go” and “Gonna Try”.
“Slow Down” is one of the more upbeat tracks, this one reminding me of Randy Jackson’s Zebra, while “Bad Am I” rocks hard with cool guitars and harmonies – easily could have appeared on the band’s 1988 debut.
As he did with many of his post-90s albums, Lenny Wolf himself remastered “Master Seven” in 2004 with his ‘vision’ of how the album should have been, re-releasing it as “Master Seven / Black Label Edition” with different artwork as well – not sold at stores, no barcode – only available at his website.
While at the time Lenny Wolf and KINGDOM COME worked almost independently – though signed by solid European record labels – on his ’90s recordings the quality didn’t drop: “Master Seven” is very well recorded & produced, with a crisp sound.
Okay, most of these releases don’t reach the peak of the first two exceptional albums, but there is a wealth of very high quality classic hard rock awaiting discovery across the entire KINGDOM COME catalog.
So put aside those preconceptions, forget all of the malicious clone accusations, enjoy the music for what it is… quality classic rock and, who knows, maybe (belatedly) Lenny Wolf and KINGDOM COME will get the recognition they have always deserved.
Highly Recommended
01 – Only Rainbows Know
02 – More Restrictions
03 – Gonna Loose Her
04 – Can’t Let Go
05 – Slow Down
06 – Seen Enough
07 – Can’t Let Go (Director’s Cut)
08 – Gonna Try
09 – Can’t Fake Affection
10 – Bad I Am
11 – High On Love
12 – Get Up My Friend
13 – Roses
Lenny Wolf – vocals, rhythm guitar
Marcus Deml – lead guitar
Oliver Kiessner – rhythm and acoustic guitars
Mark Smith – bass
Dion Murdock – drums
Bjorn Tiemann – strings, orchestration
KINGDOM COME – Master Seven [Black Label Edition] 2004, MP3+FLAC
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