RON KEEL
RON KEEL “Keelworld”
By Iron Sheik
Even a new KEEL or STEELER song cannot save “Keelworld” by RON KEEL. It is mired down in mellow rock and country tinged tracks. All of these new tracks would have been better suited for a greatest hits album or live album, as a bonus track for each band. Furthermore the EMERALD SABBATH tracks are good, but it is a tad too late to redeem this affair by the end of the album. In the end it has been a journey through RON KEEL's head and life. A tad less metal and moreso just rock. I went into this new KEELrelease, “Keelworld”, expecting something different than it is. I knew it would be a mix of all aspects of RON KEEL's musical journey of the last forty or so years. I was super excited for a new track from the band KEEL, and I was almost as stoked for a new track from STEELER, albeit minus YNGWIE MALMSTEEN. Mitch Perry takes over guitar duties for this new track. Watch for a video for STEELER's first new song in 41 years, “Give Me Guitars” (Or Give me Death).
“Keelworld” represents KEEL, STEELER, RON KEEL BAND, IRONHORSE, EMERALD SABBATH, and RONNIE LEE KEEL. This collection features all new music from each band. There is not much on here that caught my ear and what did was unexpected. I was let down by the new KEEL track “Moving Target” and “Give Me Guitars” (Or Give Me Death) by STEELER. Higher hopes aside this is an okay collection of metal to country as only RON KEEL could do. I am not a country fan at all, so the couple of tracks by RONNIE LEE KEEL, “Neon Circus” and “Faster Horses”, could be skipped in my opinion. Not for me. Only “Children Of The Grave” by EMERALD SABBATH caught my ear and is the standout to me. This is the track that has the best vocals and the backing band is good enough to carry such a song. Closing the album is a track by just RON KEEL and his acoustic guitar, “The Last Bottle On Earth”. It is a ballad, and all I hear is POISON. It is a fitting outro ,though.
It is not that “Keelworld” is a bad album. It just did not cut it for me. “Keelworld” does not leave me feeling as though I wasted my time by listening to it. My expectations for KEEL were “Lay Down The Law” or “The Right To Rock”, and “Moving Target” seemed mellower than I remember KEEL to be. RON KEEL's voice is still there, but the music lacks the raw energy of the 80s. That might just be my problem with this release is that I was expecting 80s style heavy metal from RON KEEL. With someone of RON KEEL's stature I expected heavier material, but it's a good representation of what the 20s RON KEEL sounds like. Expectations that are so high they can never be met is what happened with me concerning this release.