Band: Moonstone Project
Album title: Rebel On The Run
Label: Blistering
Distributor: Bertus
Release date: 29/05/2009
Release: CD

This Moonstone Project is a band around Italian guitarist Matt Filippini, a highly respected session and live touring guitarist who’s been able to work with Classic Rock legends the likes of Blue Oyster Cult, Ian Paice, and Glenn Hughes, many of which he can count as his friends.

Not surprising then, that MP’s musical direction is in that same plane, and that the guitarist would find a lot of his friends in the business (Ian Paice, Eric Bloom, Steve Walsh, Glenn Hughes, Kelly Keeling, Graham Bonnett, James Christian, Tony Franklin, Carmine Appice, Paul Shortino, and additional participations by the likes of Enrico Sarzi, Alex Mori, Maurizio Corriga, Nik Mazzucconi, Chris Catena, Gianluca Tagliavini, Alex Del Vecchio, Daniel Flores, and Jahann Niemann) willing to make guest appearances on his first own album Time To Make A Stand, released in 2006 through the Majestic Rock label…an album in promotion of which he played several shows (often with special guests, including Glenn Hughes, Ian Paice, Carmine Appice, and Bernie Marsden) from 2006 to 2008. In May 2008 the album was re-issued through Belgian label Mausoleum with the new title Hidden In Time. The re-issue not only had a re-vamped artwork, but also featured a new track in the album title track song, plus 3 bonus tracks featuring Paice and Hughes. This solo debut album, which was certainly a must for fans of Classic Rock, and which I sure intend to get me some day, may however have lacked appeal for the modern music fan, as the vocal diversity might’ve been felt as somewhat disorientating.

For his second album with MP, Filippini was looking more for a more unified “group” feel, and working with his keyboarder Alessadro Del Vecchio to compose new material, the twosome completed the material for the new album in June of last year. As the core of musicians, he went for James Christian (House Of Lords) on lead vocals, Del Vecchio (of course) on keyboards, Nik Mazzuccioni on the bass, and Francesco Jovino (U.D.O.) on drums. The album still features a couple of prize guests though, like Glenn Hughes doin’ the vocals on the slightly Funk-influenced ballad “Closer Than You Think” (together with Tommy Bolin’s “Borrowed Time”, also the only “borrowed” song, written by Hughes himself), but that’s the only lead vocal guest on the album…Christian’s wife Robin Beck however bringing backing vocals to 3 songs (album opener “Sinner Sinner, plus “Madman” and “Halfway To Heaven”, which close the regular edition 10-track album) and Roberto Tiranti (Labyrinth) to one (the album title track). On the drums, Jovino is replaced a couple of times (by Clive Bunker on “Sinner Sinner” and “Madman”, by Ian Paice on “Halfway To Heaven”, and by AlexMori – MP’s live drummer, by the way – on “Cosmic Blues”, “Closer Than You Think”, and “Shooting Star”), but on several occasions he still gets to play additional percussion anyway. Additionally, you’ve got former Uriah Heep mastermind Ken Hensley adding keyboard & synth to “Sinner Sinner” (while Del Vecchio still plays the minimoog solo, and Filippini still adds moog and mellotron in addition to guitar – Filippini, by the way, adding sóme keyboards to half of the tracks on the album). Finally, to bring those that special ballad feeling to the Hughes track, Filippini used the services of Hillary Thomas and Massimo Numa…the first to fill the songs with the sounds of her violin, viola, and cello, the second to add acoustic guitar!

The end result is a must for any fan of Classic Rock (nót because of the guest musicians this time around, but rather because of the nice organic feel of the album)…and evidently of House Of Lords, with Christian showing himself from his most diverse side on this album (hardly recognized him at first on the ballad “Cosmic Blues”), displayed so labourously on the album. It’s actually refreshiing to hear a band conjure up the warm sounds of the ‘70s, and not fuck it up with modern production. To get an idea of what I mean, suffice it for you to surf on over to myspace.com/moonstoneproject, where you’ll find 2 tracks off the previous album posted alongside the new track “Sinner Sinner”. May not seem  like a lot, but it’s full-length versions, and what’s posted there is really representative for the “harder” side of this “project-turned-band”! Great stuff, and can’t help wanting to listen to it over and over again…but of course that’s an impossible thing, as there’s still so many records awaiting my attention!

90/100

Tony.