ULI JON ROTH -

ULI JON ROTH - UNDER A DARK SKY - SPV  
There are good guitarists and there are the Jimi Hendrix, Ritchie Blackmore and Uli Jon Roths of the world. While multitudes of guitarists lash, shred and fret with, admittedly, amazing speed or technique it is the rare master guitar player who not only displays amazing flair, but also plays a contextual style of guitar that gives form and meaning to the music, the lyrics and the feel of the song. Former Scorpions and Electric Sun icon Uli Jon Roth has returned with a long awaited album that shows off both his strengths and weaknesses. Under A Dark Sky is an opera, is Classical, is New Age and Rock. The vibrating strings, the resonant meaning, the staccato, the whammy and the fret all coalesce into something bigger. When Roth speaks of his intended series of “Symphonic Legends” there is much truth in the phrase. Naturally, this is Uli after all; the offbeat and the strange are here alongside the ambitious and the inspired. Featuring Mark Boals and Liz Vandal on vocals the album has the upper hand to Roth’s older solo material in this respect.
It does not all make sense really, but fans of old Scorpions will also get to hear snippet of the old made new. This is Uli after all. - Ali “The Metallian”