Album Review: Ronnie Romero - Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters

There's something about Ronnie Romero that has always gnawed at me. Since he became the vocalist de jour of rock and metal, it seems like he has been everywhere. If there is a project out there without a singer, there's a pretty good chance it will wind up with Ronnie as the singer. He has made dozens of records, and was recently bragging about how in ten years he has had a career it takes most people thirty or forty years to achieve. That's not a good thing, mind you, since those other singers craft an artistic identity, and make music people remember. Ronnie spits out material so fast, and all as a hired gun, it gives the impression he will sing just about anything you put before him.

So much music, and we don't really know anything about his identity as an artist.

That might finally change with this record, the first one of his career where he has a voice in the songwriting of every song. I say 'might', because if I'm being honest, this record doesn't actually sound any different than any of the other melodic rock and heavy metal albums he's been a part of. Now, there's a chance he's constantly been given material that gels with his own take and taste in that music. There's also a chance he developed his own sense of songwriting from singing those records, which then turns the whole thing into a circular argument, where his original ideas are so predicated on the work of others that he has nothing to say on his own.

I'm not saying that definitely is the case, but the thought does strike me as making a whole lot of sense. What that means is that if you've listened to Ronnie over the years, you won't notice the change in songwriters as you come to this record. Man, is there a sadder thing you can say about music than it being completely anonymous? Sorry for the diversion there. The point is that if you already like what Ronnie has been singing, you'll like this record too. Nothing happens here that wouldn't appeal to the people who are already prone to liking this kind of material.

As an amalgam of the more melodic albums, and the heavier ones, I suppose you could call this a summation of everything Ronnie Romero has yet been. I don't happen to like that interpretation, because it doesn't work as a very good summation. If this is the first time we're hearing the true artist behind that voice, it comes through an album that is weaker than pretty much everything else he has sung.

While I seem to be one of the few people who doesn't think he's one of the best vocalists out there, I can say he's been part of song good music. The albums with Sunstorm, especially, are very good for what they are. The melodic songs on this record don't have nearly the number of hooks to them as those records. The heavier songs don't have any hooks at all. "Girl, Don't Listen To The Radio" is the worst song on the record by a mile, because it doesn't even sound like Ronnie tried to write a melody. He grunts his way through something that's supposed to resemble a chorus, but it's so incredibly bland and unmemorable I struggle to understand why a song that does absolutely nothing to showcase a singer is on a singer's solo album.

This record tells me everything I need to know, namely that Ronnie Romero isn't a great songwriter at this time. There's no shame or criticism in that, by the way. Plenty of great singers aren't also great songwriters. They're two very different skills, and it's rare to have both of them. What is a problem is that Ronnie has never cared to pick material to sing that crafts an image and a reputation that can endure. And again, I understand. Music is his job, and he gets paid (presumably) well to sing these albums. I'm looking at this from an artistic perspective, which is the way I think about music (both his and my own), and I can't see how saturating the market with so many albums works to build a reputation with the audience. We have very different perspectives on music, and that's fine.

All it means is that this album, for me, is just another from the conveyor belt of Ronnie Romero albums. If you pass this one by, another will be along shortly.