Marco Mendoza: ‘Viva La Rock’
MARCO MENDOZA
VIVA LA ROCK
To be released March 2, 2018 (Mighty Music)
Review:
Many will know Marco Mendoza from stints in Thin Lizzy, Blue Murder, Whitesnake, Lynch Mob, and most recently in The Dead Daisies. Marco’s various endeavours have been lauded on Sleaze Roxx in the past, and he was interviewed back in 2010… read it here.
Viva La Rock not only features Marco Mendoza, but also Soren Andersen on guitars. Sleaze Roxx has been positive on Andersen’s other project, Electric Guitars, over their past two albums. The combination of Mendoza and Anderson has paid off with this particular record.
The lead track “Viva La Rock” is flat out hard rock. It’s the kind of song that tells you what it is from the first few notes and doesn’t let up. “Sue Is On The Run” has some great moments, but it’s more or less an outlier as an average track. However, “Rocketman” does have a groove to it, and some solid vocals. There is an interesting feel to “Sweet Emotions.” — almost ’70s for the intro, with a horn section based intro, but the song itself works a different feel.
At this point, I’ve reviewed two previous Electric Guitars albums featuring Soren Andersen, and I am associating Mendoza’s current release as an extension of Andersen’s previous project, simply due to the similarities in the guitar lines. For right or wrong, there is a correlation between the two bands. I sense that “Chinatown” (featuring Mike Tramp of White Lion fame) sounds quite like Thin Lizzy, and “Burned” has an almost ’90s style plodding metal nod. On a completely different note, “Love 2 U” is a funky groove with chunky guitars and a sing along vocal. I will pass on “Leah” as a boring ballad that stands out as filler on an otherwise guitar oriented album. “Hey Baby” is dedicated to Ted Nugent, and all signs point to yes on the magic 8 ball for this track — a ton of fun.
Marco Mendoza has built a solid guitar based album with Viva La Rock, although I do sense real influence from Soren Andersen. There are some really solid tracks to be found here, a la Electric Guitars. This is worth investigating for yourself.
Track List:
01. Viva La Rock
02. Sue Is On The Run
03. Rocketman
04. Sweetest Emotions
05. Chinatown (feat. Mike Tramp)
06. Burned
07. Love 2 U
08. Leah
09. Hey Baby
10. Let It Flow
Band Members:
Marco Mendoza – vocals, bass
Soren Andersen – guitars, backing vocals
Morten Hellborn – drums
Band Websites:
Official Website
Facebook
Reviewed by Metal Mike for Sleaze Roxx, February 2018
Marco Mendoza‘s “Viva La Rock” video:
Marco Mendoza – Viva La Rock (Official Music Video)
“Viva La Rock” is taken from the album “Viva La Rock” to be released on the 2nd of March world wide through Mighty Music (ex. Japan by Ward Records).Pre-orde…