Cassandra’s Crossing – Garden of Earthly Delights

Part of Frontiers Records’ strategy is creating these supergroups, mostly consisting of artist from their own label. Just think of Revolution Saints (Journey, The Dead Daisies, Whitesnake) or Sunbomb (L.A. Guns, Stryper).

And the undisputed champion of being part of Frontiers’ collaborations has to be George Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob) who has released albums with Lynch & Sweet (together with Michel Sweet of Stryper), KXM (with Doug Pinnick of Kings’s X and Ray Luzier of Korn), The End Machine (with Jeff Pilson of Dokken), Dirty Shirley (with Dino Jelusick of Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and Ultraphonix (with Corey Glover of Living Colour). And while the quality of all these projects and their releases do vary, common for them is that they are generally quite good, and Lynch does get to pay his bills. But let’s not forget that he also gets to flex his creative muscles in rather diverse fashion.

His latest collaboration on Frontiers Records is called Cassandra’s Crossing and that name appears to come from the fact that he’s collaborating with singer Cassandra Carson and then there is that 1976 movie Cassandra’s Crossing. Think of it what you will, by the time the band released the first couple of singles, it seems that there was quite a lot to sink your teeth into. Cassandra’s Crossing’s debut Garden of Earthly Delights is indeed an interesting Modern Hard Rock album where Lynch unfolds most of his repertoire. And he seems inspired across the musical spectrum of this album – from the gist of songwriting and performance to playfulness and those trademark twists that make all the difference.

Unlike Lynch, whose resume is long and imposing, Carson is mostly connected with pop infused hard rock band Paralandra. She has also shown an interesting side to her self together with Josh Rand (ex-Stone Sour) in The L-I-F-E- Project. But her part in this collaboration shouldn’t be neglected. There is enthusiasm and infectious energy to her performance, and let’s not forget her powerhouse vocals. Sure, there are dozens of similar vocalists that come to mind, but she fits this project well, nonetheless because of her dedication to the material. It goes without saying that if you’re picked to collaborate with Lynch and you are not an established artist, you are certainly good at what you do. And she most certainly is. Her performance is heartfelt and powerful, as are her lyrics, which at time do lack bit more finesse.

Musically, Cassandra’s Crossing navigates eminently between Classic and Modern Hard Rock, with a fine dose of Alternative Rock in there as well. Lynch delivers one groovy riff after another and as for his guitar leads, they are just like his tone – simple mesmerising. In the age of copy-paste, it’s that much more enjoyable when someone so skilled takes advantage of recording two guitars and understanding the possibilities and vital nuances that occur if done properly. His sense for giving songs a twist or downright turning them on their heads, by simple use of razor-sharp bridges or solo sections, is on full display on Garden of Earthly Delights. And those are often effortlessly accompanied by melodies to match. Just check out the middle section on “Stranger”, “Impatient” or the ending of “Ring Me Around”.

There isn’t much, that doesn’t work here. Perhaps they could’ve dropped a single song, and perhaps “Run For Your Life” comes too close to Carson’s work in Paralandra, and it has a hard time finding its ground on an album like this. Generic drum sound is hard to avoid in a production like this, and a bit more originality to the drum sound would serve the otherwise fine production well.

When focusing so much on these collaborations, they do have a tendency to become less exciting and even less interesting. Lynch has managed to deliver countless good collaborations, and this is most certainly one of them. There is inspiration and excitement to it and that makes the obligatory musical proficiency to come across as additionally remarkable. Many of these collaborations are one-off, but with the quality of Garden of Earthly Delights in mind, one can only hope for another release by the Cassandra’s Crossing.

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