Album review: DARIO MOLLO’S CROSSBONES – Rock The Cradle

Frontiers [Release date 02.12.16]

Italian guitarist Dario Mollo, who started his career in 1981 with the everlasting Crossbones, has re-established his musical career with the band on his new album ‘Rock the Cradle’.

Mollo, who has worked with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) on his 1999 studio album ‘The Cage’, 2002 studio album ‘The Cage 2’ and 2012 studio album ‘The Third Cage’ as well as with Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Country, California Breed, Communion,) on Voodoo Hill’s three studio albums: ‘Voodoo Hill’ (2000), ‘Wild Seed of Mother Earth’ (2004) and ‘Waterfall’ (2015), has returned to his roots with Crossbones to create this ‘old school hard rock nostalgia’ with heavy metal influences.

Mollo’s first studio album with the band was in 1989 and was produced by Kit Woolven – producer of bands such as Thin Lizzy, UFO, Magnum, David Gilmour and Cradle of Filth), yet shortly after this, Mollo himself began to get involved with the production aspect of the music business. Now, with his new line-up including their original drummer, Ezio Secomandi completed by his consistent collaborator Dario Patti on bass and keyboards and Carl Sentance of Nazareth – Deep Purple’s Don Airey was the one to come up with the suggestion of Carl joining the band.

Each song on the album holds a different element, that as each song progresses one after the other, creates an intriguing fusion of classic rock and heavy metal. The opening track ‘Red’ has the 80’s guitar riff and 70’s operatic vocals that makes the song so evocative. ‘I Got This Feeling’ also stood out for me with its distinctive Iommi/Black Sabbath sounding introduction – maybe this is down to Mollo’s previous work with Tony Martin and Carl Sentence’s work with Geezer Butler for about two and a half years in their early days.

‘Gates Of Time’ is what sums up the amazing talent that is held within the Crossbones for me. The song is 6 minutes of pure hard rock ballad that its mysterious, haunting, and melancholy yet powerful tone makes it a masterpiece of its genre, especially at a time when classic, old school, hard rock and metal is so difficult to find.

The songs guitar riffs amplify the bands passion, along with its compelling vocals and thrilling lyrics – which makes them all the more worth listening to! ****

Review by Mitchell Benjamin

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