Best known for his partnerships in the The Cage with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) and Voodoo Hill with Glenn Hughes (Black Country Communion, Deep Purple, California Breed), Italian guitarist Dario Mollo began his career in 1981 with the band CROSSBONES. With them, he released his first studio album in 1989, which was produced by Kit Woolven (Thin Lizzy Official, Magnum and UFO, among others) before getting involved in the production side of things himself.
For this new CROSSBONES album, the Italian axeman brought back original drummer, Ezio Secomandi with the line-up completed by his regular collaborator Dario Patti on bass and keyboards. The choice for the singer was Carl Sentance (Nazareth, Don Airey Band, Persian Risk, KROKUSonline), who came at the suggestion of Don Airey of Deep Purple, during a recent visit to Dario's home.
'I think this record has a strong identity and character,' tells Dario. 'It is a mature production and the songs range on many styles of hard rock and classic heavy metal, but every song has a catchy chorus. I also think this album shows how much I liked working with Carl. He is easily one of the best singers I have ever worked with. I am certain our cooperation will not end with this cd!' concludes Dario. The quality of the material presented here is witness to that statement.
'Rock the Cradle' tracklisting:
1. Red
2. Take Me High
3. Navigation
4. Rock The Cradle
5. Gates Of Time
6. I Got This Feeling
7. In My Blood
8. Running From The Shadow
9. Speed
10. Fright
Best known for his partnerships in the The Cage with Tony Martin (ex-Black Sabbath) and Voodoo Hill with Glenn Hughes (Black Country Communion, Deep Purple, California Breed), Italian guitarist Dario Mollo began his career in 1981 with the band Crossbones. With them, he released his first studio album in 1989, which was produced by Kit Woolven (Thin Lizzy, Magnum and UFO, among others) before getting involved in the production side of things himself.
'This new project, "CrossBones" was created with the intent to pay homage to the band from where it all started," says Dario. For the occasion, he brought back the drummer of the original lineup, Ezio Secomandi together with his regular collaborator Dario Patti on bass and keyboards.
The choice for the singer is Carl Sentance (Nazareth, Don Airey Band, Persian Risk, Krokus), who came at the suggestion of Don Airey of Deep Purple, during a recent visit to Dario's home. 'This album includes the best of all the experience I gathered in my career in music and in artistic production,' concludes Dario. The quality of the material he recorded is witness to that.
The album is planned for release towards the end of 2016, with tour dates to follow.
I love, love, LOVE the guitar tone of Dario Mollo on this new Voodoo Hill album. And it’s so refreshing to hear Glenn Hughes singing straight ahead melodic hard rock, rather than a bluesy or 70s derived sound that he’s used in recent years with Black Country Communion and California Breed.
I pretty much enjoy and appreciate everything the great Hughes is involved in, but it was time for a change in direction and Italian guitarist Dario Mollo has offered Glenn a great platform of catchy, hard edged, commercial rock songs to shine on.
Waterfall is easily my favourite Voodoo Hill/The Cage album and is cleanly produced and mixed by Mollo with no bias towards his own guitar parts.
And it goes without saying that Glenn sounds amazing as ever. The man simply does not age!
All That Remains is a nice, straight forward rocker with a hard edged guitar tone and some understated vocals from Glenn. I love it when he sings this way – straight ahead rock with a commercial classic rock bent. Restrained but memorable chorus.
The Well is a slower, more groove driven rocker that is classic Glenn Hughes vocally.
Rattle Shake Bone is a bluesy hard rocker with a little more shredding and some extended higher range vocals from Glenn.
Underneath And Down Below is a twisting, moody 6 minute track with an intensity not seen yet on the album.
Waterfall is a great soulful classic Glenn Hughes/classic rock ballad that turns heavier and employs a little 70s Led Zep for good measure.
Karma Go is a grooving mid-tempo rocker with some vocal menace from Hughes.
Evil Thing is a mid-tempo rock n roller with a commercial chorus and a straight forward appealing vocal.
Eldorado is a faster moving track with a crunchy riff and a very commercial and memorable chorus.
White Feather is a moody, twisting track that takes a few turns and a few spins to get to know. Cool track that’s a little different to mix up the album.
Sunflower is a harder hitting track with some tasty guitar tricks and another nod to 70s classic rock.
Last Door is a longer, catchy, expertly sung, mid-paced rocker with some more nice crisp guitar work.
There’s groove, there’s attitude, but above all else, there are some terrific guitar driven rock songs, sung with an authority only Hughes can muster.
Waterfall features one of the cleanest mixes I’ve heard in a while and reminds me in part of another favourite album from the past – John Norum’sFace The Truth (also featuring Hughes).
Frontiers Music Srl is excited to announce the release of the eagerly anticipated new album from VOODOO HILL entitled “Waterfall” on October 16th in Europe and North America.
Italian guitarist Dario Mollo returns with his Voodoo Hill project on October 16. Again in tow is superstar vocalist Glenn Hughes.
What do they have lined up for the new album – which I might say is a beautifully produced, crisp sounding recording:
Track By Track:
01. All That Remains is a nice, straight forward rocker with a hard edged guitar tone and some understated vocals from Glenn. I love it when he sings this way – straight ahead rock with a commercial classic rock bent. Restrained but memorable chorus.
02. The Well is a slower, more groove driven rocker that is classic Glenn Hughes vocally.
03. Rattle Shake Bone is a bluesy hard rocker with a little more shredding and some extended higher range vocals from Glenn.
04. Underneath And Down Below is a twisting, moody 6 minute track with an intensity not seen yet on the album.
05. Waterfall is a great soulful classic Glenn Hughes/classic rock ballad that turns heavier and employs a little 70s Led Zep for good measure.
06. Karma Go is a grooving mid-tempo rocker with some vocal menace from Hughes.
07. Evil Thing is a mid-tempo rock n roller with a commercial chorus and a straight forward appealing vocal.
08. Eldorado is a faster moving track with a crunchy riff and a very commercial and memorable chorus.
09. White Feather is a moody, twisting track that takes a few turns and a few spins to get to know. Cool track that’s a little different to mix up the album.
10. Sunflower is a harder hitting track with some tasty guitar tricks and another nod to 70s classic rock.
11. Last Door is a longer, catchy, expertly sung, mid-paced rocker with some more nice crisp guitar work.
Lots to absorb here and a beautiful sound. Full review shortly…
After more than a decade, VOODOO HILL, the alliance between Dario Mollo and Glenn Hughes returns with a new album.
Out in October via Frontiers.
Frontiers Music Srl is excited to announce the release of the eagerly anticipated new album from VOODOO HILL entitled “Waterfall” on October 16th in Europe and North America.
The new VOODOO HILL album – the third release from the musical alliance between Italian axeman and producer Dario Mollo and legendary former Deep Purple singer / bassist Glenn Hughes – is the culmination of a 30+ year career for Mollo as a musician, songwriter and producer. Dario Mollo’s career started in 1981 with the heavy metal band Crossbones, he continued to develop his abilities with musical giants like Tony Martin (Black Sabbath), Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, MSG), Don Airey (Rainbow, Ozzy, Deep Purple) and several others. The Voodoo Hill albums with Glenn Hughes has always marked a special milestone in Dario’s career though.
With the acclaimed first Voodoo Hill album in 2000, Dario, for the first time, had the chance to have a proper international release, while the follow up album “Wild Seed of Mother Earth” is probably the heaviest and strongest release ever from Dario. Both releases came out via the Italian label Frontiers with whom Dario has built a strong relationship during the years.
The new record came about as a result “of the most prolific and creative period I had in my entire career” tells Dario. “I wrote and recorded more than 35 song ideas in a very limited amount of time, leveraging from all the experiences I gathered as a guitar player, writer and producer. This creative phase had a further development when Dario Patti (keyboardist, bass player and orchestra arranger) came into the picture. He brought the songs a new palette of sounds and some superb arrangements. I also wanted the songs to sound as fresh as possible, trying my best to preserve the feeling of the overall performances, so I used very old school recording methods, including recording acoustic drums in rooms with natural reverb.”
“It was right in the middle of this creative spring that Serafino of Frontiers called me to see whether I wanted to finally work on a third Voodoo Hill album after all these years,” continues Mollo. “He said Glenn Hughes was available in principle, so the next thing I did was to choose the 11 songs which I thought suited the project the best. In comparison to the previous albums, I wanted to have Glenn more involved in the artistic decisions, so I sent him the songs before the final mixes in order to have his advices on the final result. That was a precious process that brought substantial changes, for instance on “Last Door”, where I literally changed the entire guitar riff to make it work better with the vocal melodies. In the end the song was basically rewritten and dramatically improved. It was a fabulous creative process, which I am truly confident will last more than a bunch of listening sessions and will offer a lot of enjoyment to all those will want to follow Voodoo Hill in this exciting musical venture”.
“Waterfall” is a strong and straightforward hard and heavy rock album which is equally split between aggressive and heavy moments and beautiful melodies. A stunning release which all fans of hard rock and heavy metal truly won't want to miss!
“Waterfall” tracklisting includes: All That Remains; The Well; Rattle Shake Bone; Underneath And Down Below; Waterfall; Karma Go; Evil Thing; Eldorado; White Feather; Sunflower; Last Door.
As previously announced, we will be releasing the new VOODOO HILL album, WATERFALL! The official release date is October 16th and in the coming months we shall unveil the first taste of music from the album.
Italian guitarist Dario Mollo is working hard to put the finishing touches on the long awaited third VOODOO HILL album, entitled “Waterfall”.
VOODOO HILL is a collaborative effort between the Italian musician and legendary singer/bassist Glenn Hughes. The new album marks the first rock release from Glenn since the demise of the short lived power trio California Breed. The musical direction of this new album has a solid foundation in Hard Rock with some very melodic moments and diverse influences ranging from classic Deep Purple/Rainbow and Led Zeppelin Official to Van Halen.
Dario Mollo says, “I put a huge amount of work on this record, even though Glenn also helped a lot giving me a lot of suggestions for improvement. Glenn did an amazing job in songwriting/performing and I’ve never heard him so pleased about the results! I think this is the album we did together that suits his singing and style the most and in the end this truly became a team effort. Maestro Dario Patti did also a fantastic job arranging the orchestral parts in 2 songs. Every time I listen to the album a stupid smile appears in my face, so I just can’t wait to see people reactions!”
Musicians completing the line-up are Andrea Maiellano on bass, Riccardo Vruna and Vladimir Ruzicic Kebac on drums and Dario Patti on keyboards and bass.
Frontiers Music Srl plans to release “Waterfall” in September 2015 – more details will be released shortly!
