The Lizards – Against All Odds

THE LIZARDS
AGAINST ALL ODDS
Released 2006 (Hyperspace Records)

Track List:
01. I’m No Good
02. Can’t Fool Myself
03. On A Wire
04. Planck Time
05. Ariel
06. My Dark Angel
07. Bad Luck Is Come To Town
08. Revelation No. 9
09. Take The Fall
10. Up The Stairs
11. Eleven
12. The Arrival Of Lyla

Band:
Mike DiMeo – vocals and keyboards
Patrick Klein – guitars and background vocals
Randy Pratt – bass and harmonica
Bobby Rondinelli – drums

Additional Musicians:
Glenn Hughes – vocal duet (3,8,9 & 10)
Lorenzo Ponce – string conductor (9)
Clark Gayton – horn conductor (10)

Production:
Produced by Patrick Klein and Randy Pratt. Recorded and mixed by Patrick Klein.

Review:
The Lizards are back, bringing to the table more sounds from the earliest days of heavy metal. Days of soulful vocals, extended jams and top-notch musicianship, all mixed together with the clean clear production values of today.

  Against All Odds is much more experimental then their previous release Cold Blooded Kings. It takes a majestic approach like that of Led Zeppelin as some of the songs meander along a winding road for close to 10 minutes! Sometimes the band loses me in the process, leaving me behind as they follow their musicianship through these creative jams.

  “I’m No Good” is a great start with vocalist Mike DiMeo sounding absolutley incredible. His soulful wail backed by a heavy bass and drum beat. “Can’t Fool Myself” follows the opening track up nicely and is one of the longer tunes that never lets up, even with the long Deep Purple sounding keyboard solo. But from that point on things become hit and miss.

  The funk structure of “On A Wire” and “Bad Luck Is Come To Town” is just too prominent for my liking. Meanwhile “My Dark Angel” is a melodic number that has one of the coolest bass patterns I’ve heard in awhile and the guitar leads on “Take The Fall” fall back into classic Deep Purple territory. I’m not a big ballad fan, but when done right like on “Revelation No. 9” they can be nice additions to an album.

  Without a doubt Against All Odds covers a lot of musical ground. It is likely one of those albums that will be a big hit amongst musicians, people that can better appreciate the directions each song takes.

  www.thelizardswebsite.com – cdbaby.com.

Reviewed by Skid for Sleaze Roxx, October 2006.

Buy The CD:
Purchase at eBay.com