Slave To The System

Slave To The System came about as a chance for Damon Johnson (Brother Cane, Alice Cooper), Roman Glick (Brother Cane), Scott Rockenfield (Queensryche) and veteran producer/guitarist Kelly Gray (ex-Queensryche) to make music that was not only outside the boundaries of their respective main bands but had no self-imposed boundaries as to the direction and the outcome of the final product. Vocalist/guitarist Damon Johnson was working with producer Kelly Gray on a new Brother Cane project when he suggested jamming with drummer Scott Rockenfield. Three weeks later, they had written and recorded an entire album. After constantly being "slaves to the system" with their respective bands, this was a chance to go back to the basics and produce new music that they wanted to play without any rules or corporate influence. The idea was to approach the project as a brand new band that was just getting started in the music business. The result is a fresh, riff driven modern hard rock album that is very "up to date" with the current popular hard rock sound. The great sense of melody and cohesiveness in the music of Slave To The System was not part of a very carefully calculated plan. It comes from the many years of experience in the music business and by just doing what felt right and very natural to do in getting just the right balance of emotion, melody and catchy hooks for each and every track that was written and recorded.

The biggest surprise for me with this album was the abundance of riff-driven/guitar-heavy tracks. The opening track Stigmata is a prime example. With chunky riffs and an eerie Queensryche vibe with the guitar harmonies, this solid and energetic rocker virtually wipes the floor with bands like Velvet Revolver. The strong, melodic and passionate vocals by Damon Johnson puts these guys a cut above the current "modern" hard rock kings of the castle. The riffs continue with Ruby Wednesday and the title track Slave To The System; a track that features big booming Sabbath influenced guitars. Audioslave and Soundgarden influences permeate tracks like Cruise Out Of Control, Ragdoll and Walk The Line with the big booming guitar and passionate screaming Chris Cornell style vocals by Damon. Several acoustic flavored tracks give the album a great sense of dynamics with Live This Life and Abyss being the highlights. Live This Life is a great laid back song with Damon's passionate and soaring vocals giving this one a sort of Collective Soul edge. Abyss uses a blend of orchestration and acoustic guitars to accompany another great and powerful emotionally charged vocal by Damon. Besides the previously mentioned Cruise Out Of Control, Disinfected also uses de-tuned guitars and a fast energetic tempo to kick it up a notch and to produce a driving hard rock sound that strays occasionally into heavy metal territory.

With a crystal clear production that features every instrument and voice perfectly balanced, Slave To The System has produced one of the finest modern-edged hard rock albums that I've heard in a long time. Damon Johnson's voice has never sounded better and has the type of emotion and power to his vocal delivery that many bands would kill for. This album rocks hard and aggressive one moment and is "breathy" and melodic the next. No two tracks sound the same and although influences from Queensryche and Brother Cane inevitably creep in once in a while, Slave To The System is an entirely new entity. The quality in the song writing and performances by these musicians is sure to distance themselves from the pack of the current "modern" hard rock giants...let's hope that they're in it for the long haul!!