This EP is credited to ‘Marzi Montazeri Featuring Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens’. Am I the only one who gets a bit nervous when I see the word “featuring” in a band title? Guitarist Marzi is probably best known for his work with Superjoint Ritual and Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, but he has also been a guest with Prong, Doug Pinnick (Razr 13), Defiatory, and the Judas Priest tribute record ‘Hell Bent Forever’, which is where he met Owens for the first time. Since leaving Priest to make room for a returning Rob Halford, Owens has been with both Iced Earth and Yngwie Malmsteen, and is lead singer of Charred Walls Of The Damned as well as the supergroup Project Rock.
This six-track EP is based around guitar and vocals, and I don’t know who else performed on it (not on the press release or his website), and after a pleasant short instrumental (“11”) it is down to business and plenty of riffs and Priest-style screams in “Monster Within”. Marzi calls himself “The High Priest of Distortion”, and there is plenty of that on the EP. But although this song starts off in a promising fashion it slows down and loses its way, and probably loses the listener as well: it did in my case. When the guys are up and running (and I really wish I knew who the drummer was as he is brilliant) then we have a cross between Helloween and Iced Earth plus Owens doing his best Halford impressions, which is quite palatable. But the issue for me is down to the quality of the material, as while here are bits and pieces I enjoy, there is little here to keep my attention. This is a self-released EP, getting attention because it has some well-known musicians involved, but could and should be better than this. For more details visit http://www.marzimontazeri.com
