JAMES RIVERA for me will always be synonymous with the demos and fist albums of HELSTAR, which still are being played regularly in my household, and the result to this day is me listening with goosebumps on my arms, a smile on my face and happy tears in my eyes. Throughout the years he has been quite adventurous, and judging by his new band, JAMES RIVERA'S METAL WAVE, that feat hasn't changed one bit.

"New Wave Gone Metal" is the debut album by the band, and the most outstanding feature of it is that we are dealing with a tribute album. A Heavy Metal tribute to the New Wave musical genre. As I have never been a fan of that particular direction of music, I didn't and don't recognise a lot of the songs. The only one I instantly recognised was "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", as that was a massive hit in its original state.

So, what is there to say about the versions that are being slung in our direction? Well, first of all, yes, they all have had a Heavy Metal makeover. And as usual with tribute albums, some versions work, others don't and the rest is somewhere in between. It does make "New Wave Gone Metal" into an album that needs several listens before you can get a proper picture of what you are listening to. Unless, you know all the songs on the album, then your verdict on JAMES RIVERA'S METAL WAVE will probably be instantaneous. But, like I said, that is not the case for me.

What I am most disappointed about is the lack of variation in the main man's voice. It all sounds a little (or even a lot) flat to me. He never uses his impressive range and ability to add an extra layer of Metal to the music. That for me is the biggest regret; I feel that JAMES RIVERA should have gone for it. That he has chosen to play other people's songs, no problem. That he decides to release it as a full album, fine, but doing so without putting in the vocal effort to enhance and enrich the sound into a proper amalgamation of New Wave and Metal is inexcusable. Even more so as the music has reached that collaboration on a very good level. He will not be able to convert anyone to this so-called new Metal genre this way. Chance missed, if you ask me.