Branching out and establishing himself
After making a name for himself as guitarist and songwriter for groups such as Sick Speed, Stuck Mojo and Fozzy, Rich Park Ward (Otherwise known as The Duke after earning the moniker from a German journalist) has decided to step out on his own with his debut solo album My Kung Fu Is Good.
But unlike the music commonly associated with Ward, My Kung Fu Is Good is based purely around Ward’s abilities to compose songs and sing, rather than laying down a thick sounding riff. In a sense it makes sense for Ward to hide behind the moniker of The Duke, because if anything, My Kung Fu Is Good is more akin to melodic rock rather than metal as such.
Roping in both the known and unknown in the way of a backing band (The band comprises of guitarist Mike Martin, Fozzy bassist Sean Delson, keyboardist Eric Frampton, Fozzy/Stuck Mojo drummer Frank Fontsere and producer Rick Beato), Ward spearheads his album with the highly personal I Give To You. Taking a solid rock approach, I Give To You sees Ward experiment with programmed loops and female backing vocals (With a touch of soul coming through at the tail end), while Immune (By far the heaviest track the album offers) and Suicide Machine follow along in similar fashion, but separate themselves through the choruses that are very representative of Ward’s previous song writing talents and style with his other bands (Most notably Fozzy).
Used To Be, Show You The Way and Running are quite laid back (And again, quite personal on the lyrical front) and unassumingly catchy, while the duet with Allison Irby (Who also made a guest appearance on Fozzy’s It’s A Lie from All That Remains) on Summer and the piano led ballad Breathe allow Ward to explore his vocal abilities without the heavy masking of loud instruments. While the vast majority of the album is somewhat downbeat and easy going, Back To You injects a little more of the rock spirit into proceedings, before delivering the anthem/gospel like At This Moment as the grand finale.
Fans expecting anything remotely close to Ward’s past works will find little similar in nature here. But as the name on the album suggests, this is a solo album from The Duke (And not Ward as such), and experimentation into radio friendly melodic rock territory is what was set out from the start.
Surprisingly enough, Ward’s reputation remains very much intact with My Kung Fu Is Good, and shows that not only is he a talented guitar player, but he can write a damn good song, and sing it too.
(Spitfire Records/Riot! Distributors)
