ELEGANT WEAPONS
Evolution
Exciter Records

Forward thinking!
Progress!
Watching the beat!
….and how many album covers has that robot appeared on now, including this one?

Don’t let the new album cover fool you otherwise. ELEGANT WEAPONS are far from being a bunch of daft punks who just got lucky. Their current all-star lineup of guitarist Richie Faulkner (JUDAS PRIEST), vocalist Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW, MSG), bassist Dave Rimmer (URIAH HEEP), and drummer Christopher Williams (ACCEPT) easily has a combined total of about 150 years’ worth of musical experience. Their 2023 debut Horns For A Halo– which had featured both PANTERA’s Rex Brown and Faulkner’s JP bandmate Scott Travis in its original lineup – was an excellent promotion of the band’s energetic display of fiery riffs and even more fiery-sounding vocals – and also an album that was fortunate to see a release at all given both Brown’s busy touring plans with PANTERA and Faulkner and Travis’ busy touring/recording schedules with JUDAS PRIEST, and also compiled by Faulkner’s sudden health scare while on tour. Yet, as successful as Horns was in getting ELEGANT WEAPONS’ profile out for mass viewing, it was locked in battle with the larger aforementioned names in heavy metal throughout much of 2023. A UK tour which had started at KK Downing’s Steelhouse and included an appearance at Hellfest, while brief with about 10 dates scheduled at the time, did otherwise give ELEGANT WEAPONS a fighting chance amongst the larger tours that they had to contend with – and probably inspired talk and then action in recording their sophomore effort titled Evolution.

That is, once they could secure a new rhythm section in place when both Rex Brown and Scott Travis were unavailable to take part – which they did with Dave Rimmer and Christopher Williams entering the fold. And, as crucial a role that both Brown and Travis played on Horns in developing EW’s sound, it’s Rimmer and Williams who are the ideal musicians to take their sound forward by taking it back on Evolution. Opening number “Evil Eyes” starts off with a bouncy rhythm intro before it forges with Faulkner’s classic-sounding riffs, guided nicely by Ronnie Romero’s soaring vocals. “Generation Me” has a neat-sounding Tony Iommi-inspired riff and an even more neat dig towards the social media influencer culture as Romero claps hard with “No one cares about Generation Me/I don’t need to dance in the devil’s playground”. “Holy Roller” starts with a decent Hendrix-sounding fret workout and slips neatly into parts Uli Jon Roth-era SCORPIONS and MAHOGANY RUSH territory, straddling effortlessly between the two worlds before climaxing with a fast-tempo finish. “Come Back To Me” is a bluesy-sounding ballad with an earworm-laden riff that also features the glowing Hammond organ work of Adam Wakeman, who is indeed the son of YES keyboard legend Rick. And while I’m not an immediate fan of most instrumentals if their sole purpose is just to exist yet plod needlessly with no real sense of variation, “Rupture” is no such instrumental as it was written and arranged by Faulkner himself, sonically detailing his aforementioned health scare which resulted in him requiring a life-saving open heart surgery operation, starting from the well-timed pulsating heartbeat rhythm to the climaxing sensory beeping sound and making the song the most personable-sounding track on the entire album.

For me though, the true standout numbers on Evolution that take EW’s performances up some notches would be the 7-minute long opus “Keeper Of The Keys”. Its title may broadcast a heavy HELLOWEEN influence, but once the blues influences (and prog rock influences since Adam Wakeman also guests on this song) kick in midway, that classic-sounding MAHOGANY RUSH/70’s SCORPIONS/RAINBOW/URIAH HEEP sound (and God knows I tried to keep that obvious-sounding influence part quiet during most of the review but it became too obvious on this song not to ignore) and tone is laid well more bare throughout the rest of the song. “Thrown To The Wolves” is the album’s most groove-laden and guitar-heavy track, with Faulkner (who already plays like he’s two guitarists anyway) sharing his solos with rising hard rock/blues guitarist Jared James Nichols.Finally, “Bridges Burn” starts off by heavily leaning on the riff to “Teacher” by JETHRO TULL before it takes on its own glorious identity. Perhaps because it’s trying to avoid having to include a flute solo and Ian Anderson wasn’t available at the time? We’ll never know or really be bothered about the outcome because once Faulkner launches into that Artemis II soaring solo in between those humble-sounding blues riffs, it’s already taking the listener back to school over and over. Guess that’s why it was selected as the lead-off single.

As I alluded to earlier in this review, it may feature a well-designed android on its cover that looks destined to be one of Tom Servo’s future model ex-wives, but Evolution is otherwise the sound of ELEGANT WEAPONS at their most musically authentic and genuine, their musical DNA running proudly rampant all over this album while graciously welcoming change not for the sake of change, but just for itself.

And, really, what can be more human than desire and feeling?

5.0 Out Of 5.0

https://www.facebook.com/elegantweaponsband/
https://www.instagram.com/elegantweaponsband/
https://x.com/elegantweapons_