Nuclear Messiah - Black Flame
by Kevin Wierzbicki
Nuclear Messiah is the new band from guitarist Chris Poland, formerly of Megadeth. Well, Nuclear Messiah is not so much a band as it is an aggregation of Poland working with a different set of metal and hard rock stars on every song, most of whom recorded their contributions at a different studio than where Chris was working. Never mind those distinctions; Black Flame is a hard rocking set of 10 tunes, mostly penned by Poland, that's sure to please the most discriminating of metal heads. Of all the guest stars here, the biggest is an actor, not a player: William Shatner. Bill does a spoken word bit, a brief and eerie recitation about the coming of a nuclear messiah, uttered while Poland plays a haunting guitar melody in the background. The cavalcade of stars begins in earnest after that and there's a different notable vocalist on each cut. Chilean singer Ronnie Romero (Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group) takes the microphone on the boogieing "Devil Won't Let Go," a song that's catchy and custom made for hard rock radio; ace guitarist Vinnie Moore joins Poland in providing the song's speedy guitar riffs. On "Death or Glory" hard rock hammer swinger Thor handles vocals; this cut in particular sounds not unlike Megadeth. The legendary singer Arthur Brown, beloved for his psychedelic rock hit "Fire," sings "Ride the Sky" and Romero again handles vocals on "Dice and Thunder" which also features Rick Wakeman and guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. Joe Lynn Turner (Rainbow) takes the mic for the pulsating "For Mad Men Only" which also features Pat Travers, title cut "Nuclear Messiah" features journeyman vocalist Tim "Ripper" Owens (Judas Priest, Iced Earth) and a cover of the Uriah Heep super oldie "Look at Yourself" features vocals from Sebastian Bach and guitar work from Heep founding member Mick Box; the cut very much retains the feel of the band's early sound. Singer Andrew Freeman (Lynch Mob) rocks "She's So Evil" where David Ellefson of Megadeth fame deals out the low end and Romero gets one more vocal turn on "Black Flame" which also features Jonathan Cain on keyboards. Metal Church vocalist Mark Lopes takes the record home with closing cut "Electric Burn" where Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, shows off his shredding talents and where bassist Joe Bouchard (Blue Oyster Cult) adds to the sound. Some of the other luminaries contributing here include Vinnie Appice, Steve Di Giorgio, Bob Daisley, Glen Drover, Fred Aching, Alan Davey, Chris Adler, Phil Soussan, Derek Sherinian, Carmine Appice and Joel Hoekstra. It might seem that with such a large and varied group of players that there might be room for discord here but to the contrary the album, full of great guitar work from Poland and his guests, is very cohesive and sure to please metal and hard rock fans.
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