THE TOOLS "Diamond Lace" & "Remodeling"

[Delbert]

I just received advanced copies of the two new THE TOOLS CDs , "Diamond Lace" and "Remodeling" which are being released on the Metallic Blue Records label. The Tools were a band widely known in the Salt Lake City, Utah vicinity, having been a popular act in the night clubs and on stage at various venues there.

The band was fronted by Mike Rafone on vocals and lead guitarist, Danny Dickman. In the late 80's they went into the studio and recorded some outstanding demo tracks in hopes of securing a record deal. Although that never materialized, today, Metallic Blue Records has made these tracks available on two CDs. Without a doubt these are really painstakingly made demos: the audio quality is in no way inferior to major label productions. Mike Rafone gives his best on vocals and Danny Dickman introduces himself as a guitar virtuoso. Each song fits the spirit of the golden age of hard-rock: the guitars are scratching, each chorus is in the right place with exceptional songwriting. But most importantly - Mike's AWESOME lead vocals, and such great original arrangments... no cliches on this one.

The albums host many tracks with catchy hooks like "Thinking Of You" and "Rock & Roll On The Radio". Fans of ballsy melodic hard rock, will INSTANTLY fall in love with these blockbuster releases with their high energy tracks sprinkled with a couple of moving ballads. Listening to these CDs captures an elusive - and BRILLIANT moment in melodic hard rock history. Rich production, GREAT guitars, AWESOME lead vocals and above all - one original passionate composition after another......Bottom line is - I totally enjoyed them.....both CDs are exceptional melodic, upbeat summertime hair metal at it's finest.