I never really cared for Australia’s SADISTIK EXEKUTION (well, “The Magus” would probably be an exception to the rule here…), as I always considered them too chaotic and noisy, with too little highlight songs to remember. So, for obvious reasons I also didn’t check out the first solo album by their crazy frontman ROK. Whether that was a mistake or not, I still can’t tell you, but now I got to hear the follow up and at least that turned into a positive surprise for me. “Burning Metal” doesn’t impress with brilliant musicianship or a high quality production, it’s actually of very low standards – everything gets played in the most simple way, the lyrics are full of clichés (black, leather, Satan, fire, hell etc.), while the production comes across with a pretty authentic, basic and raw sound (but of very good quality!). While listening to the fifty minutes I often had the impression that I’m standing right in the middle of ROK’s rehearsal room, which is quite a nice experience, hehe. Anyway, musically the songs combine influences from early BATHORY (especially the slower stuff, like ‘Born In Fire’ or ‘Vampire’), VENOM (for its raspy and rough overall feel and partly also for the way the vocals get delivered) and straight ahead and dirty MOTÖRHEAD type Rock’n’Roll. Like I said, very simple, but very effective and definitely way more Metal than the majority of better produced / executed releases these days.