Jack Starr - 'Out of the Darkness' (official album stream)

Το μακρινό 1984 ο Jack Starr ψάχνει το επόμενο μουσικό του βήμα μετά το "διαζύγιο" με τους Virgin Steele (με την μπάντα που εκείνος δημιούργησε δηλαδή). Δεν έχασε χρόνο. "Out of the Darkness" ο τίτλος του πρώτου προσωπικού του δίσκου, ο οποίος κυκλοφόρησε το 1984 από την δισκογραφική εταιρεία Passport Records.

Εν συνεχεία δημιούργησε τους Jack Starr's Burning Starr (κατά το Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow) αλλά αυτό είναι μία άλλη ιστορία (που έχει ήδη ειπωθεί). 41 έτη αργότερα "βγήκε" και η φυσική του συνέχεια, "Out of the Darkness Part II" (αλλά και σε αυτό έχουμε ήδη αναφερθεί).

Εστιάζουμε από εκεί που ξεκίνησαν όλα. Ο δίσκος "Out of the Darkness" κυκλοφόρησε για πρώτη φορά σε cd το 1996 (από την Power Records) και σε ψηφιακή μορφή το 2013 (μέσω της Limb Music με άλλο εξώφυλλο και με μπόλικα bonus). Η πλέον πρόσφατη επανακυκλοφορία μας γυρίζει μία διετία πίσω (16 Ιουνίου 2023) σε cd και βινύλιο από την High Roller Records.

Ακούμε τους Jack Starr (κιθάρα), Rhett Forrester (η φωνή των Riot στο πρώτο μισό των 80ς - R.I.P. 1994) στα φωνητικά, Carl Canedy (τύμπανα) και Garry Bordonaro (μπάσο). Στον δίσκο μετέχει επίσης και ο David DeFeis (δεύτερα φωνητικά)...

Δελτίο τύπου: «When guitarist JACK STARR left his band Virgin Steele in 1983 it was a shock for everyone, including fans and the press. Virgin Steele had just released "Guardians Of The Flame" - a masterpiece of American heavy metal.

But STARR did not want to follow the current keyboard-onerous trend and after his departure he began looking around for suitable musicians for his first solo album which was to comprise more of his preferred heavy, guitar-based music.

When "Out Of The Darkness" was released in 1984, it could not be predicted how much influence this album would have on the US dominated heavy metal scene.

In the international heavy metal bible of the eighties, the legendary "Metal Forces" magazine, "Out Of The Darkness" was listed as one of the most important heavy metal albums of 1984. Kerrang! (issue 18, 1984) placed it amongst the “20 Fave LPs Of The Year“ and in the Japanese Burrn! magazine the album was in 12th place of the Import Disc charts for weeks!

The album made JACK STARR one of the most influential guitarist of US heavy metal and his status has remained so to this day, as could be seen and heard during his exciting appearance at the Keep It True Festival in Germany.

Just 30 years after the first release of "Out Of The Darkness" Limb Music has taken upon itself to re-release this valuable part of heavy metal history and to enhance it with bonus material. The album, newly mastered by R. D. Liapakis (Mystic Prophecy, Devils Train) contains additional material from different creative periods of JACK STARR.

There is, for example, the track "Blue Tears Falling", never before made public, from the unreleased Jack Starr Blues Band album "Take It To The Bank", as well as five instrumental songs from the 1990 album release, "A Minor Disturbance", a work which clearly places the class of the JACK STARR the guitarist in the foreground.

The actual tracks of the album, with the fantastic vocals of Rhett Forrester, are stamped by power riffs, thundering drums and a superb mixture of melody and power. It's text book Power Metal with all the hallmarks of the metallic eighties. "Out Of The Darkness" has withstood the test of time in every way and after thirty years it's still capable of making its mark. So in this sense - "Let's Get Crazy Again"!»