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Non-Prog CD Reviews

Ruffyunz

Ruffyunz

Review by Gary Hill

Randy Pratt sure seems to get involved in a lot of cool projects. His bands are always quality operations, too. This hard rocking, funky showcase is no exception. I almost landed this under metal, but ultimately decided that it's more just pure hard rock. That said, there are often proggy tendencies, too. I'm reminded of King's X quite a bit on a lot of this. It should be noted that Pat Travers fans should be interested in this because he provides much of the guitar work.

This review is available in book (paperback and hardcover) in Music Street Journal: 2020  Volume 1. More information and purchase links can be found at: garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2020.
Track by Track Review
Tonight
Drums bring this into being. The cut powers out from there with a killer metal groove. Funk and more is added to the mix as it continues. This has a lot of fusion built into it in a lot of ways. This is meaty, catchy and rocking. There is some killer guitar work further down the road, and bass playing is on fire. In fact, the whole rhythm section on this track is like a rocking machine.
Freedom
I love the funk groove on this killer tune. The piece just oozes cool. It's not as metallic as the previous tune was, but it's not less on fire. There is some killer guitar work on this.
Pressure
This piece powers in with a metallic riff that is really packed full of AOR prog stylings. It's fierce and powerful, but also well set in a hard-edged prog zone. As it drops down to the mellower zones that prog thing is even more present. Don't get me wrong, this has plenty of hard bluesy rock in the mix, but it also lands on the prog end of the spectrum in a lot of ways.
On the Road
Heavy metal and hard rock merge on this killer tune. There is a great energy to the piece. It reminds me a lot of King's X.
Mist
There is a bit of a mean and mysterious tone to this thing. The cut has a great blues rocking groove built into it. The cut shifts toward the proggy end of the spectrum as the arrangement fills out more near the end.
Frantic
I dig the funky sound that starts this cut. The track works out in style from there. I'm reminded quite a bit of Living Colour, but there is more of a blues rock thing here, too. The ghost of James Brown is probably looking down and smiling when he hears, this, too, because the soulful element is on fire. Speaking of on fire, though, check out the smoking guitar soloing.
Funky Heavy & Tight
Take some classic Black Sabbath. Add in some Led Zeppelin and some funk, and you'll be in the right zone to find this number. It's another killer cut on a disc full of strong music.
Hard Times
While this one also comes in hot and funky, it drops to mellower modes for the verses. This is another that makes me think of King's X. This gets into some seriously metallic zones further down the road.
Demons
The closer has some cool mysterious grooves and killer concepts. It's arguably the highlight of the set. The sound has a great metal vibe. This feels very epic in a lot of ways.

 

 

 
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