It Delivers Aggression, Musicianship and Power
By Tom Elke
Ross The Boss Friedman and his band released the new Ross The Boss album, “By Blood Sworn” on April 20, 2018. It’s actually the 3rd Ross The Boss album, preceded by “New Metal Leader” in 2008, and “Hailstorm” in 2010.
But this is an entirely different band than the previous albums. The players on this album are, on vocals Marc Lopes … Bass, Mike Lepond… Drums Lance Barnewold… and of course Guitars, Ross The Boss.
This is an all-star band; every player on this album gives a great performance. Marc, who also sings in the band Let Us Prey, shows his great vocal range, hitting piercing high notes and singing with passion & great feel. Mike, also of Symphony X fame and Silent Assassins, gives a great performance of 4 and 8 string bass. He displays his great musicianship throughout the entire album. Lance, who is a multi instrumentalist, also plays guitar for the band Fate Breaks Dawn and plays with Mike LePond’s Silent Assassins, hits the drums with great power, his cymbal strikes are placed excellently, with the usage of the ride cymbal and China cymbal being very noticeable and timed to precision. Not every drummer has that feel. And Ross… that great guitar tone. He rips up the place with excellent lead parts. This album is loaded full of great lead guitar. It’s a constant through the entire album.
The album has 10 new songs, with all members of the band participating in the song writing at one point or another. One version of the CD also includes bonus Tracks, 3 Manowar songs that Ross co-wrote, “Each Dawn I Die,” “The Oath” and “Hail And Kill.”
I won’t break down every song in this review, that can be done by others. I am going to give you an overview of the album to touch on what you would want to know about any album before purchasing it.
This album is straight ahead Metal. It delivers aggression, musicianship and power. The production makes you feel the power of the music when you play it at a loud volume. Most of the songs are played to a mid-Tempo, to up-tempo/quicker pace. For those of you who like a fast paced song, there is something for you on this album too, along with a slower song.
There are no lulls on this effort; it’s very good throughout… Great powerful Metal for you to get into. If you are into lyrics, they are classic Metal themed lyrics and you will definitely enjoy them. The CD is packaged well, with very cool artwork.
All in all, it’s a very good album! Buy it… you won’t be disappointed. I love this album already.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10. (In my Rating system, there are no 1’s and there are no 10’s.)
Ross The Boss 'By Blood Sworn' Album Review w/ Jimmy Kay & Neil Turbin