“Rock Is Dead,” heh ……hardly.

   The day former Wishbone Ash guitarist, Roger Filgate, chose to use “Rock Is Dead” for a working title, I’m sure he spent the better half of it chuckling at the dubious irony. This explosive, loaded freight train serves as a Guitar Rock defibrillator, if anything. Rooted in a hard rock garden, this Aerosmith / Led Zeppelin-fashioned fruit is succulent and ready for picking. Filgate takes the hard rock guitar solo and breathes new life into the dying art. With riffs, licks and heavy grooving that brings thoughts of acts like Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Guns ‘N’ Roses and former Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Jake E. Lee’s short-lived Badlands project, Blast Room is an air guitarist’s paradise.

   When I first heard the opening track, “Feel So High,” my immediate thought went to the heavy Blues Rock groove jamming of Badlands. As the record rolled on I started hearing pieces of so many great things that I had fallen in love with in the past. Think of this as a 10-piece jigsaw puzzle, with each piece emblazoned with your most memorable musical memories. As you start to assemble each of these pieces though, you start to find out that the completed picture is not a collage of old greats, but it is a stunning portrait of Roger Filgate and his Blast Room bandmates. This band has the limbs of those that came before them, but a heart all its own.

   Besides Filgate’s stupendous guitar work that stretches throughout the entire record, there is another chilling sensation at work here. Vocalist Rob Jackson delivers a strong and passionate performance as he caresses the delicate strains of “Need To Know” and wails feverishly through the title track. With “Need To Know” being reminiscent of a “No Quarter”-era Zeppelin, and the title track having the hard rock fervor of a Guns ’N’ Roses rhythm, Jackson shows great versatility and vocal prowess. Bassist Sandy Nardone (Pound / Mr. Mudd) and drummer Chris Tatalias from New York-based Aerosmith tribute band Rag Doll, make for a rollicking good time as the rhythmic backbone of Blast Room.

   If you are a fan of the guitar, you will love the six-string injection that Filgate offers up here. If you are a fan of the classic hard blues rock sounds of bands like Aerosmith, Badlands, Cry Of Love, and Zeppelin, you will fall in love for many different reasons. If you are a fan of putting the headphones on and pulling out the air guitar, start pumping your fist in the air and get into a Blast Room CD as soon as possible.