Band : Kelly Simonz’s BlindFaith
Album title : The Rule Of Right
Label : Lion Music
Distributor : Bertus
Release date : December 2009
Release : CD

“Here’s the box with stuff that didn’t get distributed yet,“ said my editor-in-chief, adding, “Take out whatever you like, as long as it ain’t reserved!”. Well, that’s always oil on my review-hungry fire, and when I say the (download) promo for thís album (the info only mentioned Kelly Simonz though), I immediately went “Swipe, you’re mine!”, because I’d already done a review on an album by this Japanese Neo-Classical/ Metal artist in the past!

When I came home, I immediately set about copying the new albums to my mp3-player (because that’s how I work, see, as travelling only by bicycle I have a lot of time on my hand to listen to new material), and I couldn’t help feeling this album’s material to be very, very familiar-sounding to me! The info on the “biography” I’d gotten along with the promo, included only a track-list, and not even a release date, and the somewhat distorted image of the album cover felt pretty familiar as well. At first occasion, I went onto the Internet in search for more info, and what did I find out but that this is the same album as was reviewed by yours truly back in the day. So…what gives? Did The Chief simply download this, because he could…or is Lion Music actually re-issuing this very album? Whatever’s the case, this is still the same album as in late 2002, and therefore I though, why don’t I just look up the review I made back then, and copy it down here (Concrete Web having suffered a computer crash in 2005, nothing older than that can be found by you, the reader…but I happen to keep a better protected archive), and then give you an update on the artist…interested? (you really have no choice in the matter, actually…although you could always skip the paragraph in question)

“From what I heard/ read, this band sucks on stage…but they’re great on studio album! Drawing influences from the Rainbow/ Malmsteen spectrum of the Neo-Classical Rock/ Metal idiom, Kelly has a very nice singing voice mastering the English language that little bit more than most of his Japanese country fellows (meaning there’s still a few mistakes). There’s a really apparent preference for the clavichord piano keyboard sound (to be heard on all tracks but 2 – “Desperado” & “Time Of Revelation”, where a more Spanish approach was taken, and on “Sprendrid Grief”, which is a piano instrumental). With a lighter approach and three instrumentals in total (of which “Partita BWV826” has a damn stong Beethoven influence) the overall musical palate is easier digestible than that of Malmsteen. The 3 bonus tracks are all instrumental, by the way.”

Okay, so not a lot of history in that review, which is explained by the fact that I hadn’t really found my way around the Internet yet in those days. So, before I get started on the update, a look back in time. Influenced by Malmsteen and Loudness guitarist Akira Takasaki, Kelly Simonz (not his given name), started playing guitar at the age of 14. When he was 17, he and his band had gone through such positive evolution, that they were allowed to play a support slot for Loudness. Next up, Kelly started to concentrate on his songwriting skills, in order to become a worldwide artist. To that end, he moved to Los Angeles in 1989, in order to attend the infamous Music Institute and GIT (Guitar Institute Of Technology) schools. Although he was hardly ever seen in class, he graduated with colours in 1990. He then started activities as a session player in the US, and formed a band in order to get a recording deal. One of his band’s members started calling him Kelly, which evidently stuck. Failing to score a recording deal in the US, he moved back home (Japan) in 1994 (the move also prompted by the tragic accident of his brother), and having decided to start a solo career, started work on a first independent album. Sign Of The Times was released in Japan in February 1998 on Simonz’ own label Blind Faith (since then apparently renamed to Faith Music), and got huge response, especially from people who wouldn’t usually listen to domestic artists. By June of the same year, the album was listed N°3 in Burrnmagazine’s monthly charts, and went to sell 6,000 copies without any special promotions. The magazine’s yearly chart, published in April 1999, listed the album on N°4, a roaring height unprecedented by any independent Japanese artist before! Interest from the major music industry was aroused, and 1999’s Silent Scream was issued by Roadrunner Japan! The album shot to N°1 on Burrn’s monthly charts from the get-go! In 2000, Kelly founded a band (Kelly Simonz’s BlindFaith) with prime Japanese musicians Keisuke Nishimoto (bass) and Tetsuya Hoshiyama (drums). In early Summer 2002, both of Kelly’s solo albums were released in Europe for the first time through Lion Music, and prior to the European release of The Rule Of Right, the band hit the road in Europe in support of Hughes Turner Project and Domain in promotion of the album.

After that, Kelly was unheard of through new releases, but that doesn’t mean he was unactive! In 2003 he became guitar instructor at the ESP Musicians Institute in Osaka. Highly in demand, his lessons were  expanded to clinics given in 5 other branch school of MIin Japan. Since 2004, he’s been a judge for the GIT Masters contests. In 2005 Kelly also became a guitar instructor at Nagoya Communication Arts. After dedicating so many years of his life to teaching, Kelly decided to pick up the threads of his solo career in January 2008, and joined Melodic Death Metal act Scarlet Garden some time after (I’m not sure whether he’s featured on the band’s opening 2008 EP Decade Of Decadence, though). That Kelly hasn’t been quite that inactive in his solo career, is proven by the fact that you can find 2 demo tracks (which he recorded in 2005) at myspace.com/kellysimonzblindfaith, alongside The Rule Of Right tracks “Now Your Turn” and “Destiny” (the latter in a 2005 orchestral version), and the track “Opus 1” (another “new” track). More material at myspace.com/kellysimonz (besides 6 tracks off the Silent Scream album – one in a 2006 live version – there’s an additional one off The Rule Of Right), where you can also find 4 videos!

The rating below is my original one from 2002, an assessment to which I still adhere! Still a great album…and it’s about time that Simonz makes & releases his 4th studio album!

90/100

Tony.