Rise

Rise is the last album the original line-up made, released by Frontiers on 24 January 2020. Recording ran in Milan and at the home studios Doug Aldrich and Jack Blades each keep in California. As on the two previous albums, Alessandro Del Vecchio produced and played keyboards, and the writing was handled by Del Vecchio, Aldrich and Blades with a contribution from fellow Frontiers artist Dan Rossall. Which is to say: it was assembled without the three of them ever being in one room. The reward is at the end. The closing “Eyes of a Child” is an acoustic ballad Jack Blades co-wrote with Tommy Shaw of Styx — the two men who had shared Damn Yankees and Shaw/Blades, standing side by side again after all those years. “It's Not the End (It's Just the Beginning)” is the one song Blades wrote alone, and the Italian singer Lunakaire adds a female voice to “Talk to Me.” “When the Heartache Has Gone” came first, in December 2019, followed by “Closer” in the January just before release. Afterwards, Blades and Aldrich would leave the band.