The debut MARCELLO-VESTRY album is a fun, throwback-sounding hard rock release. A lot of people may be familiar with one-half of this group’s name. That name being Rob Marcello, as he has been lighting up the fret board for hair band legends DANGER DANGER in recent years. Marcello is a mega-talented guitarist who could give YNGWIE MALMSTEEN a run for his money in the technically speedy department! The other half of the band’s name comes courtesy of Frank Vestry who spent a short time with ex-VIRGIN STEELE guitarist Jack Starr in BURNING STARR back in 1985. Also worthy of note is Marcello’s current DANGER DANGER band-mate Bruno Ravel making an appearance on bass.

Maybe not surprisingly, the record is very close in sound to DANGER DANGER and like I said earlier it is a fun release to listen to. The album opens with “Fireworks” and it’s a nice way to get things underway. At times I can actually hear a slight similarity to former DANGER DANGER singer Paul Laine in Vestry’s voice and that only helps to further make those “double D” comparisons a bit easier to hear.

“Ready Or Not” sounds like it’s straight from 1988 with its tribute to all things “twisted” and “dangerous” cleverly inserted into the lyrics. Like I said… a fun listen!

“All I Wanna Do Is U” could have easily come off any DANGER DANGER album with its cock-rock influenced lyrics. Buy the way have I mentioned yet that this is fun album to listen to???

Venturing more into AOR territory the track “Gone” with its mid-paced approach and smooth, melodic vocal lines has a memorable chorus in a nice, neat little package. The song is simple in its approach but it works well.

Marcello supplies some keyboards too throughout the record and that is most noticeable in tracks like “Without You”. The song opens with an almost pompy or even hi-tech AOR feel and much like the track before it’s a mid-paced song with a great hook and super melodic singing. The song also features some nice guitar work in the solo.

“Live Life” comes on strong with the DANGER DANGER sound again right down to the “Don’t Blame It On Love” sounding backing vocals. You’ll know what I mean when you hear it!

The ballad of the album is “What You Mean” and the song is in your typical hair band ballad mold. It’s not super cheesy but it’s nothing you haven’t heard before. Still it’s a good break and change of pace for the record.

“Love Injection” brings things back up to speed and isn’t nearly as silly as the title would lead you to believe. It’s actually a classier, keyboard-laden rocker with melodic singing from Vestry and a nice melodic guitar solo from Marcello.

The only song that doesn’t totally work for me on the album is “Gangster Of Love”. It’s not a bad song but it seems a little simplistic even for this record. The chorus is a bit weak in my opinion. I will give it some props for some nice guitar work on the solo though.

“One More Night” brings back to the early DANGER DANGER sound again with its nice sing-a-long chorus and great drum beat. It’ll have you plying the “air drums” with just one listen!

The album closes with an acoustic version of “Gone” which was featured earlier in the record. It’s pretty much just a straight acoustic re-work and doesn’t really add anything new to song itself but it’s done well and cool to hear. This version of the song actually reminds a little bit of the great band ADRIANGALE/CRUNCH as for the first time I hear a bit of their singer Jamie Rowe in Vestry’s vocals.

All in all the album gets 3 stars in my book based on originality but I will give it an extra point because it’s so damn fun to listen to! Releasing this as the US summer approaches was a great idea. So roll the windows down on the Z-28 and crank it up! Hey don’t laugh, my first car was a black 1982 Z-28 Camaro and this would have been a great soundtrack for that time…