| CD REVIEW Rozz |
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Band : Rozz Probably taking influence from such French acts as Trust and other Heavy Metal bands of the early ‘80s era who were doin’ so good at the time (Trust can even boast having bursted out of their native country and gone international) who sang their lyrics in their own tongue, Valenciennes (North of France) based Rozz formed in early 2004, when singer Jean Pierre and guitarist Marcel leave their previous band to grow towards doing they feel is better suited for themselves. They’re immediately joined by three acolites, and only three weeks later the hard-goin’ lads had written a dozen of songs, and were due for their first gig! The lads turn out pretty successful enough, and go on to play supports to such internationaly renowned bands as Vulcain, Blue Oyster Cult, Belgium’s Acid, Tokyo Blade. It has to said, it was still the prolific time for French Hard Rock and Heavy Metal acts, and after having released two demos the band sees 6 of their songs (4 off the demos and two previously unrecorded) issued through Devil’s Records on a 12-inch vinyl mini-LP in 1986. A solid French tour followed, and Rozz continued to make new fans, both in France and beyond…but meanwhile tensions inside the band were building up, and even though a new album was being put together, nothing could stop Rozz from eventually splitting in 1987! What follows is absolute silence… Until in 2008 original members JP Mauro (vocals), Marcel Ximenes (lead guitar), Bruno Objoie (bass) and Benoit “Philo” Lagneaux (drums) decide dto have a go at things again. For their second guitarist, they find the younger Loïc Vandeputte willing and able, and after a few rehearsals Rozz finds themselves back on the stages in the North of France. Meanwhile things in the line-up rumble again, and both the new guitarist and the bassist drop out to be replaced by (respectively) Philippe Lagneaux and Jerome Morelle (both eventually turning out to be temporary only). By the year’s end, Rozz is pleased to find both old and new fans gathering in adequate quantities to witness the band play at stages in Lille and Henin-Beaumont. The boys..ehr, men…spend the winter time recording 5 tracks (including new versions of “Les Légions Du Diable” and “Ku Klux Klan”, which were already featured on their 1986 mini-LP), which they then released on this demo in February. Although originally intended just as a demo, the critics give the recording a high praise, and it is eventually distributed throughout France by Brennus Music as the band’s comeback mini-album! “Les Légoins Du Diable” (already a stock song for the band in the old days) then sees its way on the international compilation album Imperative Music, issued by the Brazilian label by the same name, and distributed also in the USA. Getting back to the mini-album, one really has the impression to be back in time, about 25 years ago, when this kind of music (just to specify things clearly again, that’s Hard Rock/ Heavy Metal with French lyrics) was first popularised. I know, I know, back in the days many Metal fans outside France (or French speaking regions) would express themselves somewhat loathing about “real” Metal neading to be expressed in English…but even more in numbers were those who actually liked French Metal (like my neighbour, who’s only a year younger than myself, confessed to me only a month ago, that he’s got a collection of French Rock and Metal from the ‘80s stashed away somewhere very carefully) for its…let’s say the language gave the Metal an additional “sexy” touch as compared to the “colder” aura that was usually around its English soundalikes, shall we? Heck, with the track “Rozz”, we’re even treated to a decent instrumental. As mentioned earlier, two of the tracks were already on the mini-album of the band, but you’ll hear that the “new” band has succeeded in making them sound even better, when surfing over to myspace.com/rozz, where the band posted the 2009 opening “Rien” alongside versions of said songs (plus 2 others and an English version of “Une Autre Vie”, re-titled “Another Life”) of the 1986 album, and a track off their second demo. Of course, heheh…that would mean you’d have to get yourself this new mini-album as well, because how else would you even begin to be able to compare? Meanwhile the band has found a (hopefully) solid line-up with the addition of young guitarist Greg and bassist Yvon (the latter definitely of an older generation – sorry, but I couldn’t find these guys’ full names), they’ve evidently already done gigs all over the North of France (even visited Paris a couple of times) to test out some of their new songs (some of which sung in English, apparently) and have been in the studio recording their full-length album which, if all goes well, should be released somewhere in November. 86/100 Tony.
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