THE WINERY DOGS- "III"

The most famous power trio of the 21st century,. returns with their latest effort. The result is a tight melodic hard rock album with soul, funk overtones, thanks mostly to their main man guitarist Richie Kotzen and his origins and smoe FM rock moments due mostly to Portnoy's love to catching melodies. The best part of their new album is the musicianship. The most "weak' the songs as they are good compositions, but a bit generic. It is the level of musicianship and the inside musical parts/soloing, tight groove and guitar work that elevate common hard rock songs to the next level. Although among their world this is the one with the less memorable songs, still it has its moments like "Mad world', 'Rise" a funky beast that roars over the infidels asking for love and attention, and 'Breakthrough" an FM firework with WHITESNAKE/blues influences, "Vengeance" and "Stars" a modern soul/funk winner, reminding the best of Kotzen's solo works. "Pharaoh" has a pharaonic bass line dominating the song and "Gaslight" is a speedy hard rock echoing both DEEP PURPLE and TRAPEZE. "Lorelei" is a modern/alternative melodic rock composition that conquers you silently, like the hit by a stealth submarine.

It is also a reputation building album as WINERY DOGS continue to grow with their new work into a massive groove beast that needs the space of the live joint to show their musicianship. Eager to watch them onstage in their European tour that will make a stop to Greece, i ll be listening to "III" enjoying three top musicians playing along, foolin around and enjoying the vividy of classic Hard rock infused with soul and funk, in the vein of DEEP PURPLE MK IV.

7,5