At this point in Jeff Scott Soto’s career, he had been signed with Frontiers Records for about 15 years now. This 2017 album, ‘Retribution'(which was released on November 10 of that year), was timed perfectly for his 15th Anniversary with the label. This is also his 6th solo album, the first dating back all the way to 1994’s ‘Love Parade’. As with a lot of his solo work, his good friend, Howie Simon, was back to help out and he did a lot. He co-wrote most of the songs, played on the most of them and co-produced the album with Jeff. Jeff brings in some help on drums with Edu Cominato who is Jeff’s drummer in his band SOTO. These three handle everything on the album on all songs, but two and we will talk about the players on those two songs when we get to them.
At times this album is as heavy as his SOTO band, but most of it is pretty standard melodic rock. And I say standard, because at this point in his catalog, I am not real thrilled with this solo albums. At first, I thought after spending around 15 months reviewing a Jeff Scott Soto album every single week, I was maybe getting burned out, but that is not the case. Reviewing the Sons of Apollo album was a lot of fun and so was the Joel Hoektra’s 13 album and all the recent W.E.T. albums. His music still excites me. But the solo stuff, especially this album, does not so much. I think it is the quality of the songs more than anything, but let’s dive in to those songs and find out why. I am apparently wrong in my thinking a vast majority of the reviews I read on this one praised it.
The album opens with a barrage of sound and then a dirty, gritty guitar riff. The title track, “Retribution”, is a on the heavier side closer to SOTO, but more melodic. The chorus is big, the guitars are powerful (listen to that solo), the drums are destructive and all leads to an explosive opening track.
Next up is “Inside/Outside” which is a pure melodic rock track. It has an ear catching opening like the title track, but toned down a little. The bass is heavy on this one, thumping hard and high in the mix. The song is a very radio-friendly track and has a really catchy chorus that will draw you in and you now it is Soto’s vocals that are the draw as they are powerful, smooth and they soar all at the same time.
Continue reading “Jeff Scott Soto – ‘Retribution’ (2017) – Album Review (The Jeff Scott Soto Series)”
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