FAITH AND FIRE – Accelerator

It’s early into a fresh 2007, and it didn’t take long for the first “supergroup” to surface. In this case, a band named Faith And Fire. Faith And Fire are made up of Tony Moore and Mike Flyntz (ex-Riot vocalist and guitarist, respectively) and are rounded out by bassist Danny Miranda (Queen, Blue Oyster Cult), and drummer John Miceli (Rainbow, Meat Loaf). Together since 2002, the band, understandably, amassed a collection of Classic Hard Rock songs created by the combined songwriting of Moore, Flytnz, and Miranda. It’s this collection of songs that has culminated into Accelerator.

With this much talent on board why shouldn’t fans expect anything less than a stellar release? For whatever reason, though, as it’s hard to put your thumb on it, this release ends up coming across as “mediocre” versus “stellar.” The music is indeed a solid mix of Rock and Classic Hard Rock, and contains some commendable musicianship, but for some reason the songs just don’t “stick.” It almost seems like it’s just not melodic enough (e.g., like classic Rainbow) or doesn’t Rock heavy enough (e.g., like classic Riot), and winds up being a roller coaster ride of the two combined musical formats.

One prime example is the opener, “Ready,” which seems to crescendo several times and then unexpectedly breaks its tempo and results in being “ho hum.” The second song, “Villanelle,” starts out with haunting keys before setting into a plodding riff and, unfortunately, a plodding chorus. The end result is it seems like the song drags on for a long time, especially when it clocks in at just under six minutes. “Fallen” is one of the heavier and fastest tracks, and actually treads very close to Riot territory. That is until the almost “Manowar-ish” chorus rears its head and sticks out like a sore thumb, only to be followed up by a nice Tony Moore scream. It’s this kind of “unevenness” that causes these songs to lose their grasp of your attention.

On the flip side, a track like “Everything” is one of the more memorable tracks due to its heavier riff and more melodic chorus. This track also has a nice arpeggio-based lead by Flyntz. The most notable highlight is the title track itself, starting a bit speculative, but ends up settling into a nice heavy riff and it really shines when Moore uses a series of overlapping falsetto screams to back up the chorus.

Bottom line, this one is hard to recommend as a must buy, sadly, even with all of the talent in the band. Perhaps too many of these songs were lifted from the year 2002, but it just seems like these guys are capable of so much more. The music is not terrible or even bad by any means, it just comes down to not being a truly memorable release collectively.

Lineup

Tony Moore – Vocals
Mike Flyntz – Guitars
Danny Miranda – Bass
John Miceli – Drums