When Richie Faulkner was recovering from his devastating illness, something was burning in him. And that was this, if you will. A desire to create the same sort of classic-sounding hard rock that he loves. The sound of Dio, Uriah Heep, and others.
For that, he went to the only place he could for a vocalist, Ronnie Romero. The man Schenker trusts to front his band (the Heep thing is covered by Dave Rimmer of Mick Box’s boys being here having recorded the original demos in the pandemic – although Rex Brown plays here).
What Elegant Weapons – now also featuring Christopher Williams of Accept on Drums – bring to the party is something absolutely timeless. “Dead Man Walking” could have been released at any point really in the last 30 years and fitted in.
But, make no mistake this is expertly done and Faulkner is a mighty guitar player. “Do Or Die” – one of the best here – has a slashing riff that he’d use in his day job, and an incredible solo, and the way he slows it down on “Ghost Of You” underlines, perhaps, why he did this. It shows a side to him that Priest wouldn’t allow, as does the groovier, “Bitter Pill”.
And groove, actually, is a good word for the record, “Blind Leading The Blind” is one of many that exist in their hooks. And catchy they are too.
There’s one cover, and for them to do “Lights Out” makes perfect sense (although, you can’t improve on perfection).
There’s a menace to the title track, one of those dark riffs to start, that you just know is going to explode, and which, when it does, is worth the wait.
“Dirty Pig” (on which Brown sounds absolutely filthy) is typical of the album, in that the chorus is deceptively good. The sort of thing, dare I say it, that Graham Bonnett does on record but can’t manage live….
The best of a very good lot, though, is “White Horse”. There’s something that works so well when hard rock mixes with an organ sound, and it does in the intro here. Deep Purple being underrated in the great pantheon of these things is a long held belief of mine, so when I get the comparisons out, it matters. Stretching out for over seven minutes, this one is as confident and classy as it gets.
There is a class all the way through it, like some golden thread, and the last one “Downfall Rising” is ample proof.
The “Supergroup” seems to be happening more and more since the pandemic – it’s almost as if the downtime has allowed every musician to be creative in ways they’d imagined but never had time to put into practice.
It certainly feels like that here for Richie Faulkner. That coupled with his recovery from that aortic aneurysm in 2021, perhaps gives “Horns For A Halo” a greater depth than it might have had ordinarily.
That being said it is also a fun record, one that was born out of a need to create, a desire to push themselves, and a considerable skill.
Elegant Weapons were never going to be anything other than excellent, and they are here.
Rating 8.5/10
REVIEW: ELEGANT WEAPONS- HORNS FOR A HALO (2023)
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