{"id":94511,"date":"2022-07-15T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-07-14T23:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=94511"},"modified":"2022-07-26T18:24:03","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T17:24:03","slug":"album-review-jack-starrs-burning-starr-souls-of-the-innocent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-jack-starrs-burning-starr-souls-of-the-innocent\/","title":{"rendered":"JACK STARR\u2019S BURNING STARR – Souls Of The Innocent (2022) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACK STARR\u2019S BURNING STARR
Souls Of The Innocent<\/strong><\/span>
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\nGlobal Rock (2022)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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I hold the one and only Jack Starr responsible for some of the dodgiest heavy metal album covers in the 80s; Rock The American Way<\/em> (1985) anyone? However, the guitarist also has a place in my fiery metal heart, dazzling me in bands such as Virgin Steele, Phantom Lord, Devil Childe, Guardians Of The Flame and of course Jack Starr\u2019s Burning Starr, which he runs in conjunction with his own solo material.<\/p>\n

Souls Of The Innocent<\/em> is the eighth full-length release from Burning Starr on which Jack is joined by vocalist Alex Panza (Hitten \/ ex-Cobra Spell), bassist Ned Meloni (ex-Phantom Lord \/ ex-Devil Childe \/ ex-Guardians Of The Flame) and drummer Rhino (HolyHell \/ ex-Manowar \/ ex-Death Dealer).<\/p>\n

This is the first Burning Starr album to feature Panza who brings his own inimitable style to proceedings and fuelling the metal fires even further, and so with such a line-up one would expect this latest offering to be a cauldron of molten metal\u2026 and it is.<\/p>\n

The title track soars in with a Black Sabbath<\/a>, circa-Ronnie James Dio, vibe; the heavyweight riffage matched by the percussion and then woven with Panza\u2019s high energy wails. There\u2019s a strong Gothic hint to this track, again bringing a Heaven And Hell (the band) vibe, streaked with Starr\u2019s fizzing lead. It\u2019s an instantly catchy tune that paves way for further treasures within this opus.<\/p>\n

\u2018I Am The Sinner\u2019 chugs with a more hearty menace, and again I\u2019m stroked by Panza\u2019s Dio-like vocal expressions, but everything remains powerful even with the bridge to the epic chorus.<\/p>\n

These were the two tracks which gave me excitement for the album, but the rest just doesn\u2019t disappoint. After a short introduction, the band charge headlong into the fantastic \u2018Demons Behind Me\u2019 where Starr simply shreds like he did back in his younger days and the drums just pound with timely aplomb. This is classic heavy metal that will reach its cult audience, but it also puts into place the rather tired and predictable outings of far more successful bands such as Iron Maiden.<\/p>\n

As Souls Of The Innocent<\/em> unravels like a metallic tapestry emblazoned with streaks of fire, I hope that the metal kids of today will be able to find such an artist and use albums such as this as the soundtrack to their lives, just like I did back in the 80s. This album is brim full of varying tempos, all sneeringly white hot to the magic of Jack Starr. However, the guys around him are not merely backdrops but accomplished metalheads driving the messages home.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, \u2018Winds Of War\u2019 is a rollicking gallop, \u2018All Out War\u2019 exudes a driving menace built upon that thudding bass, and \u2018Road To Hell\u2019 rattles with deadly percussion. Of all the tracks on offer, including a bonus number entitled \u2018When Evil Calls\u2019, the only one I\u2019m not a huge fan of is the more steamy, slow drive of \u2018Ships In The Night\u2019, but it\u2019s far from being a bad egg amongst a batch of muscular, blazing feasts of musical brilliance.<\/p>\n

For me, Souls Of The Innocent<\/em> is the benchmark of modern metal from a master of his trade who effortlessly drifts through these boiling seas like a graceful vessel while his comrades bat away the fearsome waves with ease. This is<\/em> heavy metal, so bang your head until your brains fall out.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JACK STARR\u2019S BURNING STARRSouls Of The Innocent Global Rock (2022)Rating: 9\/10 I hold the one and only Jack Starr responsible for some of the dodgiest heavy metal album covers in the 80s; Rock The American Way (1985) anyone? However, the guitarist also has a place in my fiery metal heart, dazzling me in bands such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,4904],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-jack-starrs-burning-starr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94511"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94515,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94511\/revisions\/94515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}