Tag Archives: Ronnie Romero

New album from Ronnie Romero-fronted melodic metal trio The Ferrymen

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The Ferrymen are a melodic metal outfit fronted by Ronnie Romero who was hand-picked by Ritchie Blackmore for the latest revival of the Rainbow franchise a few years ago. Following up their 2017 self-titled debut and 2019’s A New Evil (reviewed here) the band have announced a new album out in January One More River To Cross. Meanwhile, they’ve kicked things off with the release of a brand new single ‘One Word’.

Delivering their own brand of melodic power metal, The Ferrymen were formed by Swedish guitarist/songwriter/producer Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Allen/Lande, Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall), singer Ronnie Romero (Lords of Black, Sunstorm, Rainbow) and drummer Mike Terrana (Rage, Axel Rudi Pell, etc).

The Ferrymen’s One More River To Cross is released by Frontiers on 21st January 2022.

Cover artwork is once again provided courtesy of Stan W. Decker.

facebook.com/theferrymenofficial

Album review: The Ferrymen – A New Evil

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow at Birmingham 2017

Melodic metal: album review – The Ferrymen ‘A New Evil’

Album reviews, Rock music, , , , , ,

This review was originally published by Get Ready To Rock here

Although the name may conjure up images of a Gerry & The Pacemakers tribute act playing package tours to provincial theatres, The Ferrymen are actually a European metal outfit fronted by Ronnie Romero on vocals who, of course, was chosen by Ritchie Blackmore to perform that same task when he embarked upon his return to the rock world and the resurrection of the iconic Rainbow brand.

A New Evil is the follow-up to The Ferrymen’s self-titled debut which was released in June 2017. Polished, well-produced melodic metal of the type that has become almost synonymous with the Frontiers label, the album makes its presence felt in dramatic but not entirely unpredictable fashion. Orchestral-style flourishes and spooky-sounding choral introductions lead us into thunderous hard rock. Romero’s Dio-esque vocals are well-suited to the material, all of which is written by Swedish guitarist, Magnus Karlsson (Primal Fear, Magnus Karlsson’s Free Fall), who delivers all the guitar, bass and keyboards parts on the album. The third member of the trio is drummer Mike Terrana (Rage, Axel Rudi Pell) whose furious drumming (deservedly high in the mix throughout the album) provides a perfect counterpoint to the lush but intensely powerful instrumentation delivered by Karlsson.

While the album can seem a tad predictable at times it does exactly what it says on the tin and delivers classy-sounding melodic metal, appealingly memorable song-writing and flawless vocals. Fans of classic-era Dio et al will really warm to A New Evil right down to the cover art – and won’t be at all disappointed by what’s inside.

Released 11th October by Frontiers Music

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https://www.facebook.com/TheFerrymenofficial/

Related review:

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow at Birmingham 2017

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow and Sweet at Birmingham Genting Arena 28/6/17

Glam rock, Live reviews, Rock music, , , , , , , , , , ,

When I was a teenager getting seriously into rock and metal in the early 80s I was lucky enough to see some of the biggest acts around: AC/DC, Sabbath, Quo, Ozzy etc. One band I never got to see, however, was Rainbow and one guitar wizard I never got to see (in any formation) was Ritchie Blackmore. For some inexplicable reason (and I am normally really on the ball with this) I failed to get myself a ticket when Blackmore revived the Rainbow name and announced a tentative return to rock ‘ n’ roll last year. So when a further tour was announced this year I made absolutely sure I was going to be there this time.

The evening was going to be made even more special when I found out the support act would be Sweet, who I have been following for as long as I’ve been following Rainbow. Unlike Rainbow, I have seen The Sweet many times before over the past twenty-odd years – but usually in small rock venues or provincial theatres, never in an arena with a 15,000 strong crowd. In some ways, both Rainbow and The Sweet summed up the music of the mid 70s: the albums-based rock was brilliant and the singles-based pop was brilliant, too. Perfection!

Tonight would give Andy Scott and co the chance to rekindle their relationship with many older rock fans as well as hopefully winning over some newer fans, too. ‘Hellraiser’, ‘Teenage Rampage’, ‘Blockbuster’, ‘Ballroom Blitz’ et al all go down an absolute storm. My only complaint was that the set was heavily weighted towards the old hits, with little time for the harder-edged album-oriented rock of which the band have an impressive, if less well-known, back catalogue. However, we did get stunning versions of ‘Set Me Free’ and ‘Love Is Like Oxygen’ and hopefully Andy Scott’s continuing version of The Sweet has a good few more fans after tonight.

“I’m playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order,” Eric Morecambe once famously said. No-one in their right mind could ever accuse guitar god, Ritchie Blackmore, of that. But funnily enough I was reminded of the old Morecambe & Wise gag when I was thinking about Ritchie Blackmore’s set-list at Birmingham tonight. Pretty much all of the songs that I very much hoped he’d play were in there – but the set order seemed to be in random shuffle mode with little attempt at any sort of thematic approach. We jumped from the polished commercial rock of Joe Lynn Turner-era Rainbow, to Coverdale-era Deep Purple, to the infectious pop-rock of Graham Bonnet, to the heavy prog-tinged majesty of Dio-era Rainbow and so on and so on. I suppose the main message was: “I have been involved with creating some amazing music in different bands with different vocalists and different styles – and whichever order you put them in they are all amazing…” Which is true!

After years away from doing gigs of this type and making albums like this Blackmore’s stunning guitar skills have not dimmed. Never guilty of being flashy for the sake of being flashy or of putting technical prowess ahead of creating beautiful melody, there is an elegance about his playing that is a joy to see live. Ronnie Romero, too, I thought was a good choice of vocalist. Of all the iconic vocalists Blackmore has worked with over the years, Romero probably sounds closest to Joe Lynn Turner in style, but he handled all of the material well from Gillan through to Coverdale, Dio, Bonnet and Turner. Towards the end a keyboard solo seemed to go on forever but that is a minor quibble. At the age of 51, the teenage rock fan in me has finally got see Ritchie Blackmore live on stage and has finally got to attend a Rainbow gig. He is happy.

Set-list – Sweet:

Action
Hellraiser
The Six Teens
Set Me Free
Teenage Rampage
Wig Wam Bam / Little Willy
Love Is Like Oxygen
Fox On The Run
Blockbuster
Ballroom Blitz

http://www.thesweet.com/

Set-list – Rainbow:

Spotlight Kid
I Surrender
Mistreated
Since You Been Gone
Man on the Silver Mountain
Soldier of Fortune
Perfect Strangers
Difficult to Cure
All Night Long
Child in Time
Stargazer
Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
Lazy
Catch the Rainbow
Black Night
Carry On… Jon
Burn
Smoke on the Water

http://www.ritchieblackmore.info/

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