Red Dragon Cartel
Release Date: January 28, 2014
The disappearance of legendary guitarist Jake E. Lee from the world of rock n’ roll is this stuff legends and tales are made of. Over the years I heard all kinds of stories of the former Ozzy Osbourne/Badlands axe slinger. I heard he was homeless. I heard he was playing in the corner of shithole bars in Las Vegas. I even heard at one point that he was a roadie for Ozzy which while not true would’ve been hilarious. All rumors aside, nobody really seems to know just where he was but towards the end of 2013 his name started to resurface in the scene and talks of his return were beginning to the flood the internet.
2014 marked the return of guitar Jake E. Lee with his much anticipated band Red Dragon Cartel. I have to say that my interest was piqued and that I couldn’t wait to hear what Jake E. Lee had up his sleave for us. As the opening riff to “Deceived” kicked in, I just shook my head back and forth. First off, the production was horrendous. Second, what was this? “Bark at the Moon” lite? Even the singer and his exaggerated, failed attempt to sound like Ozzy just made me make that face. You know that face you make when you’ve just eaten a sour patch kid? Yeah, THAT face. All I could do was hope that it would get better from there.
The 2nd song “Shout it Out” started off pretty decently but this a great example of how a horrible chorus can totally ruin a song. This has to be one of the single most annoying songs I’ve ever heard in my life and ½ way through the song was screaming, “PLEASE BE OVER SOON!!!” “Feeder” kicks in, again, sounding promising but this time we have Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander playing the role of Ozzy, Jr. Dude you’re fucking Robin Zander. Why try and sound like Ozzy while singing “Picking daisies in the summertime.” Um, ok dude. This album is totally losing me.
Song for song Red Dragon Cartel just totally missed the mark. I found myself completely underwhelmed by the subpar songwriting and even Jake’s playing left little to be desired for me. In all honesty, I just found this album to be unlistenable. Even the impressive guests such as Robin Zander, Paul DiAnno, and Sass Jordan could save this album from crashing and burning for me. There is nothing natural sounding about this album/band whatsoever. It sounds so contrived, thrown together, and forced. There is no real flow to the songs and the songs lack any and all dynamics. This was a really disappointing thing for me to hear and to be honest, Red Dragon Cartel kind of makes me wish Jake would go back into retirement… or being a roadie for Ozzy… being homeless… whatever it was he was doing. What I can tell you that he’s not doing is making great music.
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