HARDWARES

BW&BK has a new theme “song,” courtesy of Ritchie Blackmore, the opening instrumental from this latest dozen mead-evil-inspired creations, ‘God Save The Keg’! Unlike past efforts, the Renaissance clan culled ideas from beyond the usual Anglo-Saxon peasantry, branching off to include Russia (up-tempo acoustic gypsy melodies of ‘Toast To Tomorrow’) and France (a pedestrian, violin-featured ‘Gilded Cage’). There’s also the ubiquitous cover from the guitarist’s former life, in this case ‘Rainbow Eyes’. As rollicking as the predominately electrified ‘Locked Within The Crystal Ball’ is (could easily have been a Turner-era Rainbow tune, if not for Candice’s vocals and horns), there’s still a brief interlude of pizzicato harp strings. Night’s shawm (to Western ears, a snake charmer-sounding pipe) plays a big role in ‘The Circle’, while tambourine figures heavily in ‘Sister Gypsy’. Overall, the music is more laidback this time around, although Blackmore’s Strat punctuates ‘Can’t Help Falling In Love’ the well-known tune popularized by Elvis! With just ten originals, two of them instrumentals, the project seems a little rushed. True, they took just two years between releases this time, but Secret Voyage barely cracks 50 minutes (nine of those coming from the aforementioned covers). The video for ‘Village Lanterne’, the title track from the last studio effort concludes this disc, which is missing the one or two big sounding, rowdy drinking anthems inherent on the last few Blackmore’s Night albums (see ‘Renaissance Faire’, ‘Olde Mill Inn’, ‘Way To Mandalay’, etc.).