Ronnie Montrose once was one of the most experimental guitar players ever. He had this idea with giving every string its own guitar element, leading towards his own amplifier. Those six are placed in a panoramic stereo framing and this leading towards a real own very special sound. His most experimental period was with Gamma. The fourth album brings back drummer Denny Carmassi, bass player Glenn Letch and of course singer Davey Pattison. Davey’s voice is still very strong and his vocal mixture between Lou Gramm and Glenn Hughes gives Gamma something special. The comparison with Foreigner is easily made, but Gamma has easily the level of Mick Jones and co. New is keyboard guy Edward Roth. Now with the reforming of this band the expectations are high. I must say that the experimental character of the band is still there, but somehow “Gamma 4” is not on the same high level as “1” and “2’ were. For the musicians it is great that they can make music, but the spirit is a bit gone. Of course Montrose still is a brilliant guitar player and is sound is still there, but somehow the time did get his grip.

The two first tracks “ Darkness To Light” and “Love Will Find You” are beautiful drag along and blues rockers like “Out Of These Hands” and “Low Road Home” let us hear a great southern rock feeling with a nice slide guitar of Montrose. The remake of the old Ashton, Gardner and Dyke hit “Resurrection Shuffle” and “Oh No You Don’t!” are old rock and roll tracks that features Edgar Winter on saxophone. Highlight of the album is the long beautiful song “Last Man On Earth” with a great Montrose in very nice shape. In the end we get a good transparent sounding album, which is produced by Montrose with the help of sound engineers Troy Lucketta (drummer of Tesla) and Micheal Scott (Van Halen and Glenn Hughes). The whole album is very quiet and not so spectacular as Gamma used to be, but still the musicianship of these guys is on a high level. If you loved the first three albums and are a fan of the playing of Montrose this album will please you.