|
[8.5/10] It’s been a long time between releases, but after a long seven year wait, former Kiss/Union/current Grand Funk Railroad guitarist/vocalist Bruce Kulick has finally found the time to make his long overdue return to his solo career with the release of his third solo effort BK3.
Unlike Kulick’s previous releases (2001’s Audio Dog and 2003’s Transformer), BK3 sees Kulick branching out beyond his trademark rock and roll sound, with the 11 tracks boasting a variety of moods and feels, with plenty of Kulick’s well known friends helping out throughout the album.
The fast paced and aggressive “Fate” is a punchy number, and features some of Kulick’s heaviest riffs since his work on Kiss’ Revenge. Kulick’s sinister sounding vocals are quite effective in giving the song a slightly darker edge, where the biting lyrics (which Kulick states his refusal to stand in the shadow of anyone) are somewhat surprising, but in a good way.
Kiss bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons, the first of many big names on the album, provides guest lead vocals to the follow up track “Ain’t Gonna Die.” As you would expect, there’s more than a bit of a Kiss sound to the song. But despite the familiarity in sound, the song’s lyrical stance (Kulick’s swipe at tabloid media in the aftermath of the shooting in 2003, where Kulick was struck by two bullets in a random shooting), it’s the added strings towards the tail end of the song that really give the song a feel reminiscent of the material that featured on Kiss’ grungier Carnival Of Souls: The Final Sessions effort.
But while Simmons’ appearance is a definite highlight, it’s his son Nick Simmons who will draw just as much attention from fans. Sounding very much a younger version of his father, Nick’s performance on the slow and doom-like “Hand Of The King” is quite a revelation, and proves that the co-star of Gene Simmons Family Jewels has what it takes on the vocal front.
It’s an absolute pleasure to hear old friend John Corabi (ex-Union/Mötley Crüe) joining Kulick on the semi acoustic/rocking Union-like “No Friend Of Mine,” while Doug Fieger’s (vocalist for The Knack, and who sadly passed away in recent times) slick and melodic presence throughout “Dirty Girl” and Tobias Sammet’s (Edguy/Avantasia) rocking delivery on “I’m The Animal” are absolute killers.
Outside the big names on the album, Kulick proves that he’s more than capable of pulling off some shining performances of his own, with the laid back rocker “I’ll Survive,” the uplifting “And I Know,” the full on instrumental “Between The Lines” (where Kulick trades off with former Toto guitarist Steve Lukather) all worthy of high praise alongside the more star studded efforts.
On his third solo effort, Bruce Kulick has grown both as a songwriter and a vocalist, to finally emerge with an album that rivals his past efforts with Kiss and Union. Varied and full of strong songs, BK3 is an all-round great hard rock album, and one that’s sure to help Kulick step outside the large shadow of his former bands.
www.kulick.net
|
