At Last ! Ronny Munroe’s solo album is now also available in Europe. A few years ago I reviewed Ronny’s EPInternal Quest. Only one track has made it to this first solo album The Fire Within and that is the killer songDesperate Man. Ronny got some help from guests like Michael Wilton (Queensryche) on Sea of Sorrows andWhat You Choose to Call Hell (I Call Home), Mr. Randy Cooper of THC (Texas Hippie Coalition) on Ride Me, and of course his friend and Metal Church guitarist Rick Van Zandt. 

After the collapse op the Metal institute Metal Church, Ronny didn’t fall in a black hole, but was looking forward to present his own album to You. He also got a lot of help from Metal Church mastermind Kurt Vanderhoof and that you can hear especially in the songwriting and the guitar riffs. Twelve tracks are on this pure metal album, and I can tell you that if you liked Metal Church already, you can stop reading now and make a run to your local store to get your copy of The Fire Within. 

As said, with the songwriting involvement of Kurt Vanderhoof, who’s also responsible for the production together with Ronny, there are a lot of comparison with the collapsed Metal Church. At first you have the characteristic riffs of Kurt well played by Rick and of course the voice from Ronny. Songs like What You Choose To Call Hell (I Call Home)[i], [i]Deafening Hypocrisy, Delirium, Ivory Tower and especially the already mentioned Desperate Mancould have easily been on a great Metal Church album. The opener Far begins with a great riff and a hellish scream from Ronny where after the song exposes itself as a great rock song on which you can break your neck easily during a live concert. Rebuild The Ruins is again driven by a great riff and with Demon Opera Ronny puts you on the wrong leg thinking he’s made ballad. But after the quiet intro again a nice rock song opens itself, with a surprising break in-between. 

The song that comes at close range with Metal Church is the crushing track Desperate Man[/]i]. If you know the song Badlands[/i] from the Metal Church album Blessing In Disguise you will have an idea what you can expect. The last song is Man On The Silver Mountain originally from Rainbow. A well conducted cover from Ronny Munroe and his band and a nice closing of this album. Now Metal Church has split-up, and finally Ronny Munroe’s solo album is in stores, I don’t think that we have to wait long before we will hear again from this workaholic. Maybe we get the chance to see him somewhere on stage or otherwise I’m sure that he’s busy writing tracks for the next album. You can follow Ronny on : www.myspace.com/ronnymunroe