There's a big difference between having musical influences and infusing them this much.
In 2012, Silver Horses – a British/Italian Blues Rock band featuring former Black Sabbath vocalist Tony Martin – released their debut album. With new singer Andreas "Ranfa" Ranfagni now fronting the band, SH have taken the reigns once again on new release 'Tick'.
Having Martin guest on vocals and writing certainly excited me as I was a huge fan of his work with Black Sabbath. Sadly, 'Hang My Head In Shame' and closer 'My Bad', the two songs he features on, are weak efforts, and the latter is heavily influenced by the riff from Led Zeppelin's 'The Ocean' for the intro, while the distinctive vocals of Martin are a thing of the past.
'Sin City' takes the chorus riff from Whitesnake's 'Still Of The Night' and runs off with it shamelessly, sacrificing any opportunity of something original. 'Heat And Snow' holds its own, even with the strong influence of 'Stormbringer' era Deep Purple. Fortunately, 'Before The Rain' is lush with deep-soaked Blues Rock, and Ranfagni delivers an honest heartfelt vocal in this stand-alone fresh piece of music.
The influence of so many artists keeps popping up all over this release. 'I Don't Want To Say Goodbye' could be the Gary Moore during his Blues period, while the strong Eastern influence contained in both 'Marrakech' and 'Devils Desert' brings to mind Zeppelin, the latter aping the riff from 'Kashmir' – the like of which you have not heard since Kingdom Come made their ill-fated musical appearance. There's a big difference between having musical influences and infusing them this much.
Ray Paul