By: Jesse Striewski
Hard rock/heavy metal suergroup The End Machine, which features guitarist George Lynch (Dokken/Lynch Mob), bassist Jeff Pilson (Dokken), vocalist Robert Mason (Warrant/Lynch Mob), and newcomer Steve Brown on drums (in place of his recently retired father, Mick, also from Dokken) are back with the follow up to their 2018 debut. And this time the group has had a chance to perfect their sound just right.
Instrumental piece “The Rising” starts things off with a hauntingly familiar tone before breaking into the album’s first single (and without a doubt one of it’s strongest tracks), “Blood & Money.” From then on, there’s hints of multiple genres spread out along the way on the record’s twelve tracks; “Devil’s Playground” and “Born of Fire” contain some blues-ly riffs from Lynch, while “Prison or Paradise” and the album’s latest single, “Crack the Sky,” contain some borderline thrash elements.
But without a doubt the biggest highlights come in the form of the anthems “Shine Your Light,” and especially, “Dark Divide.” With their in-your-face, sing-along choruses, I found myself turning up the volume even louder, especially with the latter track, which no doubt features Mason screaming his heart out on possibly one of the strongest performances of his entire career.
Phase2 is hands down the album the rock community needed at this moment in time. Don’t pass this one up, it’s worth giving the time of day (and then some).
Rating: 4/5 Stars
