The bromance between Joe Lynn Turner and Peter Tägtgren has been one of the more unlikely metal events of recent years. One is a legendary hard and heavy singer, best known for his 80s stint as the voice of Rainbow, with which he scored several hit singles. The other is a melodic death metal mainstay, founding the groundbreaking Hypocrisy and finding further success in the industrial/electronic metal realm with his solo project, Pain. From an outsider’s perspective, these two couldn’t be more opposite musically. And yet they’ve managed to band together creatively, finding a common middle ground on JLT’s latest solo effort, Belly of the Beast.
Part of me is surprised this album is credited solely to Turner as opposed to “Turner and Tägtgren”. In comparison to his past solo output, which is largely AOR/hard rock oriented, Belly of the Beast stands out like a sore thumb in the best way possible. This is a full blown modern metal album if I’ve ever heard one, owing far more musically to Hypocrisy and Pain than Deep Purple or outside songsmiths like Jim Peterik. Yet even at its most extreme moments, Turner’s vocals remain recognizable as ever, simultaneously bouncing the smooth soulfulness of classics like Rainbow’s “Street of Dreams” and “Stone Cold” while pushing his physical boundaries of range and power. After all, he is 71.
While his peers Ozzy Osbourne, Dennis DeYoung, and Alan Parsons have embraced a bittersweet, introspective songwriting approach in their sunset years, Turner has done the exact opposite, waxing poetic on secret societies, arcane knowledge, and mankind’s eventual demise. In this regard, Belly of the Beast is practically a musical adaption of the book of Revelations. The opening title track showcases the soul crushing riffs, grandiose production, and symphonic metal undertones that lay the groundwork for the majority of this release. Whether it be the anthemic Pain derived “Rise Up”, epically doomy “Desire”, or chug-driven “Fallen World”, no arena in the world could contain the massiveness of these songs.
Fans of Turner’s work with Rainbow, Purple, Yngwie Malmsteen, and so forth may be disappointed by the lack of moments akin to said acts. Tägtgren can lay down some pretty mean Blackmore-esque solos (“Tears of Blood”, “Don’t Fear the Dark”), but at no point does any of these cuts sound like they’d fit in on Bent Out of Shape (1983). Perhaps the swagger of “Black Sun” almost tricked me into believing such, but in retrospect, it too is its own beast. The closest Belly of the Beast gets to “classic JLT” aesthetically speaking is the inclusion of two passionate ballads, “Dark Night of the Soul” and “Requiem”. I’m fully convinced that come the early 90s, JLT could’ve dominated adult contemporary radio alongside Meat Loaf and Michael Bolton, being able to perform ballads with the same fire and intensity as headbanging scorchers. The point being, JLT can do it all. If you can’t appreciate that, I don’t know what else to say.
Despite its occasionally compressed production and reliance on modern metal tropes, Belly of the Beast is about as solid of an album as one can expect in this vein. Turner can still deliver the goods, sounding the most natural and untweaked of all the instruments on this album. Most singers half his age rely on studio trickery to sound palatable on a track. Not Turner, a consummate professional with unparalleled class. I can’t help but wonder what a subsequent release with Tägtgren onboard would result in. Perhaps we’ll hear Turner unleash gutturals reminiscent of Hypcorisy’s Osculum Obscenum? At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised!
7 out of 10
Label: Mascot Records
Genre: Heavy Metal
For fans of: Hypocrisy, Pain, Judas Priest