The first time I encountered RONNIE ROMERO was when he fronted RAINBOW at their concerts in 2016. I saw him in Birmingham, and he did quite a good job there. He actually improved his performance a year later, when I saw the same band in London. His confidence and therefore stage appearance were a lot apparent. I have tried following him ever since, although I haven’t seen him sing live after the two times mentioned. I did love his vocal performance on the “2020” album by VANDENBERG, but felt underwhelmed when I heard the two albums of covers he did recently. I reckoned he was and deserved better than that, as he regularly sounded unconvincing in his singing.

Well, now he has recorded and released “Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters”, an album with original songs. What becomes evident during the listening is how versatile his voice actually is, whilst at the same time being immediately recognisable. It doesn’t matter what kind of Melodic Rock or Metal you make him sing, he goes at it full throttle and gives it all his best. He really is enjoying vocalising these songs. The only time he sounds a bit fragile is when he tries his voice at a higher octave and very quiet, making that part of the very impressive song “Girl, Don't Listen To The Radio” just one step behind the rest of the album. Thankfully it is only one small blemish on an outright brilliant performance by RONNIE ROMERO.

As for the band accompanying him, they are outstanding as well. They do know how to play, how to gel and how to impress. Especially the guitar playing, as it has the perfect mix between RITCHIE BLACKMORE during the riffs and sometimes even YNGWIE MALMSTEEN during the solos. But the song always comes first, so it is all done in perfect taste. But then again, I would not have expected otherwise by a record company like FRONTIERS MUSIC SRL, as they always succeed is putting a good group of players together that are able to be the solid foundation to a singer. On top of that the songs are all quite varied, but all rather classy. I hear a lot of influences flying by, and all of it put together makes “Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters” into a very pleasant album, on which RONNIE ROMERO can finally show what he is made of. And he is made out of stern stuff.