Metal Souls/Tokyo,Japan 9.15.2019

“METAL WEEKEND 2019” is a steel festival that brought Japan back from autumn to midsummer. The best live album by METAL SOULS led by Ronnie Romero, which was also the highlight, will be released. This work includes the “September 15, 2019 Zepp DiverCity Tokyo” performance. This is the best audience recording. “METAL WEEKEND 2019” was held for two consecutive nights at the same venue, and this is the second day. This event is a metal festival where bands from Japan and abroad gather, and the standard-bearers of modern metal such as HAMMERFALL, MYRATH, and BEAST IN BLACK all participate. One of them was METAL SOULS. Originally, the album title of DESTINIA, a collaboration between Romero and a Japanese guitarist, was “METAL SOULS,” but this time it was not under the name DESTINIA, perhaps because the rhythm section was different from the album (in the album, Melco Mendoza & Tommy Aldrich, current drummer and former bassist of Romero’s old club LORDS OF BLACK). In any case, the key point is the singing voice of Ronnie Romero, the frontman of RITCHIE BLACKMORE’S RAINBOW, which has been revived in the 21st century. It was advertised in advance that “That Romero will be singing 80’s HR/HM!” and the event was attracting a lot of attention. This work that recorded such a show is truly an exquisite audience recording. The feeling of a club-sized closed room is fully opened, and the core is strong and the details are super clear. If you analyze it microscopically and listen to it, you can hear the sound of an audience recording in the sound of the snare, but it does not give a sense of distance. The bass, which tends to be a weak point in guest recordings, is vivid, with even the harshness of each note, and the drums are so three-dimensional that you can clearly see the structure of the kit. And above all, Romero’s singing voice. It approaches with such detail that you can even feel the force of the breath being blown into the microphone. The show drawn with that sound is truly an 80’s HR/HM paradise. DESTINIA’s original songs “Judgement Day” and “Metal Souls” will also be played, but it’s the metal classics that will shine. Do you shy away from the head family? Perhaps there is no RAINBOW number, but QUEEN, EUROPE, WHITESNAKE, MSG, Gary Moore, and a group of famous songs that everyone knows are rushing at once (by the way, the first day was a completely different selection, JOURNEY, John Sykes, QUIET RIOT , BON JOVI, DIO). That’s where you realize Romero’s skill. No matter which song they sing, it’s perfect, and some bands have upgraded it from the original. The biggest highlight from the beginning is “We Will Rock You (Fast).” Ritchie Blackmore described Romero as having a “voice that’s like a combination of Dio and Freddie Mercury,” so this makes me happy! When I actually listen to it, it feels more like “QUEEN sung by Dio” than like Freddie, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. The pop song “The Final Countdown” is also more courageous and robust than the original song. It has been reborn so metallic that I wonder if John Norum wanted to make a version like this… The third song, “Fool For Your Loving,” proves that Romero is more than just a power singer. The background is metallic, but the singing voice that rides there is flexible and deep. The performance is “SLIP OF THE TONGUE” and the song is “READYN AN’ WILLING”, and even the feeling of breathing when they finish singing is exquisite. Of course, he doesn’t look exactly like Jörn Lande, but he doesn’t feel like an impersonator, and you can honestly enjoy his singing skills. Up to this point, I feel like it’s “as good as the original”, but the remaining two songs have clearly “surpassed” the original. MSG’s “Looking For Love” and Gary’s “Over The Hills And Far Away”. Although the background sounds like a normal metal version, Romero’s husky heroic voice is really cool! Well, with regard to these two songs, it’s hard to say that the original singer was a great singer, so it’s natural (to be honest, Romero was a wasteful selection), but the singing really lifts the uplifting feeling of the original song. Stunning. In particular, the arrangement of “Over The Hills And Far Away” with violin is wonderful. The album ends with two consecutive DESTINIA originals (this is also amazing because it doesn’t lose when you listen to it right after a historical masterpiece!). Ronnie Romero is a modern singing god who loves HR/HM from the 80’s and is able to update his famous songs. In reality, it’s mostly a cover live show, but the listening experience is different from most cover bands. Be sure to check out this work, which will make you sing even more passionately than the original, which is famous for its history! Zepp DiverCity Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan 15th September 2019 TRULY PERFECT SOUND(from Original Masters) (39:23) 1. Intro 2. We Will Rock You (Fast)(QUEEN)★ 3. The Final Countdown (EUROPE)★ 4. Fool For Your Loving (WHITESNAKE) ★ 5. Looking For Love (THE MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP) ★ 6. Over The Hills And Far Away (GARY MOORE) ★ 7. Judgment Day (DESTINIA) 8. Metal Souls (DESTINIA)