Sorry about the bit of absence over the past couple days, I had family stuff. Too mark my return I will be doing a review of a Jimmy Page album. Outrider is a hard powerful blues and hard rock explosion with some heavy metal elements. The majority of the album is hard rock with a blues feel, but there are definitely heavy metal overtones. There is still the classic Page riffing and awesome solos, the other instruments are given a chance to show off a little as well and there are some decent vocals but this is a primarily Jimmy Page oriented album.
The guitar is fantastic. Its harder than a lot of Zeppelin, because of course Page got to do whatever he wanted with this album. There are some nice solos and a lot of really good guitar parts that keep on riffing and exploding and just driving the music on. It is a treat to listen to Page show off whatever type of music he wants. There are some really cool things done with bending string on this album that almost reminiscent of his Yardbirds days. Then there are riffs that are more Zeppelin-like in nature. Page does allow the other instruments to have their own parts though. The drums have a lot of chances to show off on this album, especially on the lead track. Also on the lead track Wasting My Time is a memorable but repetitive bass riff. Overall the guitar dominates the music but allows the other instruments a small share of the glory of this album. This album is harder than most Led Zeppelin and shows off a lot of guitar talent on Page's part.
The vocals are decent, but asides from one track are nothing to rave about, they provide a blues feel that counterbalances the heavyness of Page's guitar. There is a balance because we have high powered distorted fast songs but they are played with blues timing and singers so balance can be attained. The track “The Only One” is like Zeppelin reuniting for a bit as we get to hear Plant, Page and John Bonham's son Jason all on one record. That song sounds like any of many other classic Zeppelin songs and would fit right in in any of the albums from Led Zeps glory days. The lyrics are all classic blues type stuff. Nothing particularly sppeaks to me but they are all just well written mournful blues lyrics.
Overall this is a pretty awesome album balancing blues and heavy metal nicely creating a sound harder than Zeppelin but lighter than a lot of 80s metal. There are awesome riffs and excellent solos and if this album were given more exposure it might become a classic. Personally I really love it and think that anybody who likes 70s and 80s hard rock would love this album. Gritty blues guys who like heavy metal (like me) would particularly like this album as this is to some degree really gritty and heavy blues. There are good guitar parts and decent parts for the other instruments. The vocals are overall pretty good and this album is very much worth to listening to as it shows off one of rocks greatest guitarist Jimmy Page.
OVERALL 8.5/10
Outrider
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