by Robert Taylor
Following the success (mostly in Japan) of Mark Boals' Ring of Fire, he formed a band of the same name. Keyboardist Vitalij Kuprij and drummer Virgil Donati remained, while guitarist George Bellas replaced Tony Macalpine, and former Steve Vai bassist Philip Bynoe was added on bass. The musical direction remains mostly unchanged from Ring of Fire, although the production quality is slightly improved. The tight arrangements and traditional song structures confine the talents of the individual players to serve as virtuosic whores. Boals' plenitude of falsetto shrieks can be ear-piercing and quite grating, as can the monotonous double bass battering of Donati. The compositions are straight out of the Malmsteen school and the sound is straight from the '80s. At one time this recording might have worked, but in 2001 it just sounded silly.