Album review : RONNIE ROMERO – Backbone

Frontiers Music [Release date 24.10.25]

Over the last ten years, stints with pre-eminent rock artists like Schenker and Vandenberg, plus spells with Rainbow and Sunstorm have tended to overshadow Ronnie Romero’s solo stuff.

When he released Raised on Radio (2022) and Raised on Heavy Radio (2023), covers albums both, he was clearly feeling his way into a solo career. Recording proven material was understandable, though some suspected he was taking the easy way out.

But, by keeping one foot in the present, he gave many of the songs a more modern dimension—sometimes artistic, sometimes commercial – that we didn’t find in the originals.

His first “solo” studio album of original material – Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters – came in 2023.

His latest recording, Backbone, holds few surprises.

Again paired with talented guitarist/ producer Jose Rubio, who adds the finesse that even the most raucous heavy metal needs to make its mark.

You can hear the music striving for something bigger, something better with ‘Backbone’, the majestic title track. It’s big on drama and noise – hear the clattering drums punctuate Jose Rubio’s powerful axework. There’s clearly a musical chemistry between Rubio, Romero and drummer Chris Allan.

The swaggeringly tough ‘Lonely World’, and the relatively less caustic ‘Bring The Rock’ are two sides of an unspoken tribute to Ronnie James Dio. On both, Romero embraces all the colours of Rainbow’s lofty hard rock – including the notion that the spirit of Don Airey must have crept in the studio’s backdoor and ghosted on these tracks.

The inevitable ballads, ‘Lost In Time’ and the moodier, darker ‘Keep On Falling’ provide soaring choruses, drama and stirring guitarwork.

The one surprise package is ‘Hideaway’, a funky stomp written by Russ Ballard, equally darker and slightly chaotic, a welcome contrast to the carefully calculated metal elsewhere. ***

Review by Brian McGowan

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