Great guitar play and solid songwriting but average rhythm section and unimpressive vocals - A review of Smith/Kotzen's Smith/Kotzen

Richie Kotzen of The Winery Dogs and Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden have been friends for many years and have finally decided to release an album together. The project is blandly entitled Smith/Kotzen and so is the record. The duo has released three singles in the past three months and the full length effort has now seen the light of day. The duo offers nine blues rock songs with a total length of forty-seven minutes.

The most outstanding element about this album is obviously the guitar play. Especially the melodic, mid-paced and playful solos stand out. The rhythm section is serviceable but rarely outstanding. The shared vocal duties are also decent but not charismatic enough to leave a mark. The songwriting shows a few interesting ideas. ''I Wanna Stay'' is a melancholic ballad. '''Til Tomorrow'' could be decsribed as a moody power ballad with a few minor progressive rock influences that unfolds very coherently in almost six entertaining minutes. ''Scars'' is on the catchier side despite its length and comes around with a solid chorus. ''Running'' includes some vibrant rhythms that occasionally break out of the mid-paced patterns and offer some dynamic developments.

At the end of the day, this album is mostly interesting for blues rock and hard rock fans. It will certainly please guitar players who can learn a thing or two while listening to the experienced two veterans. The songwriting offers enough changes to remain interesting. The vintage production recalls genre releases from the seventies and eighties. However, the old-fashioned album doesn't exploit its full potential. Several songs sound somewhat exchangeable. The rhythm section is average at best. The vocals fail to impress. Adrian Smith's previous project Primal Rock Rebellion with its only studio album Awoken Broken was much more exciting, experimental and heavy. The Smith/Kotzen project sounds decent but isn't anything to write home about in my book. It just isn't my cup of tea.

Final rating: 70%