Steve Dalton - Primitive (2022)

Steve Dalton is an English multi-instrumentalist, now based in Sweden, who presents us with his second solo album called «Primitive», in which he takes charge of all the instruments, and for the vocal work, in most of the songs the This position is covered by the album’s producer, Raphael Gazal, who sings in seven of the nine songs that make up the CD.

The songs are in the line of Hard Rock, as we can hear in «Road To Redemption», «2020» and «Shapeshifter». In addition to how remarkable it is that someone plays each and every one of the instruments on a record, I highlight the work of Gazal, since although the information does not specify it, he is in charge of all the choirs, and they are very well worked and achieved, which adds up to the time of the final result.

More melodic, but without losing the Hard touch is “Listen To The Wiseman”, and from there we move on to “Rise Above/Victory”, which has David Saylor as guest vocalist, with a slightly more intricate treatment than the previous songs.

“Bloodstained Eyes” marks the appearance of the voices of Ross Griggs, and due to the sound, it is a recording session different from those of this “Primitive”, but it has finally been included.

I mention, for those interested, that Dalton’s first solo work was a series of demos that had Alessandro Del Vecchio on vocals.

Gazal returns to vocals for the last two songs on the album, the epic “Salome-Usurper”, the longest track on the album, with different climates, and “Where Did The Years Go”, in the aforementioned Hard line.