(Hard Rock/Heavy Metal) Giuntini Project (w.Tony Martin) - Giuntini Project IV - 2013, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

I must confess I'd never really made any effort previously to look into Tony Martin's post-Sabbath career. I always safely assumed that it would be a shoddy aggregation of rehashed covers and unadvised stabs at past glory, as is the case with most vocalists in particular who leave prominent bands (Paul Di'Anno comes to mind). I'd never heard of the Giuntini Project either, or Aldo Guintini - who on the face of it would seemingly number among the numerous obsessive and flashy neo-classical shredders lending their names to projects.

Both rather egregious mistakes. While its true the style displayed on this album does largely resemble Tony's previous efforts in Black Sabbath, its executed with such precision and energy that its really hard to call it a mere duplication. This can hold its own when compared to any of those seminal albums. Giuntini, on his part - is barely a pretentious axeman, and has a very uncanny sense of melody that dare I say rivals Iommi's. A lot of the riffs on here, sample the grinding mid-paced crunch of 'Born in the Underworld' or the soaring harmonies in the fast paced 'If The Dream Comes True' bear a style and a swagger that the original riffmeister has seemingly lost today.

In fact, if anything becomes immediately apparent on hearing this - its that Tony Martin, more than his former bandmembers is the real flagbearer for true heavy metal. His exceptional vocal melodies and incredibly clean voicings (he surely listened to his share of Rainbow) shine through every song on here - whether on the standout 'Not the Jealous Kind' which evinces immense commercial potential a la 'No Stranger to Love' or speedy numbers like 'Perfect Sorrow' or 'Saint or Sinner'. Which just makes you wonder what could have been if Black Sabbath had any semblance of interest in making actual music instead of churning out a sub-par regurgitation of a time long past with the closest equivalent of a particularly anti-musical hobo on vocals. The prospect is tantalising, and with great regret - can only be forced when someone may finally pull the plug on poor Ozzy and put him out of his misery. I kid, of course. But if anyone truly can, well - you know what to do.

There are two instrumentals on the album - and in keeping with the general trend to avoid excess, they are great rhythmic pieces and greatly add to the flow of the album rather than detract from it. The last of them, 'Last Station' particularly evinces a kind of menacing atmosphere which I'd really like to see more of in the band. Its clear this band has far more potential than they keep themselves to, and while they execute their current style with excellence bar none - it'd be nice to see them progress and play something out of their current mould every now and then. The gap between albums however reveals that we might not see a sequel to this release all too soon, but I definitely hope otherwise. And in shirking my presumptions, this release gives me incentive to check out their back catalog for similarly strong efforts.

Oh, and before I close. The track immediately after the final instrumental is, rather inexplicably, a Megadeth cover. And a cover of a song on Endgame, at that. Now its hard to imagine why the band would even think of doing this, and that's all I can say about it. The two tracks after it too are rather sub-par, and I guess this is in keeping with the long tradition of tacking on needless filler at the end of albums. But that makes it that much easier to just press eject and I won't really be deducting much from the score on its account.