D.C. Cooper - "D.C. Cooper"

D.C. Cooper- 'D.C. Cooper'
Released in 1999 on Inside Out Music America
The Alliance
D.C. Cooper -vocals & backing vocals
Alfred Koffler –guitars
Tore Ostby –guitars
Dennis Ward –bass
Kosta Zafirious –drums
Guenter Werno –drums

D.C. Cooper's musical career begins in his current hometown of Pittsburgh PA. It was during this period while performing with local garage bands. He began his extensive study of voice control with renowned opera teacher Charlotte Coleman. D.C. would later on audition and become one of the few finalists in replacing Rob Halford in Judas Priest. Even though the job will be given to Ripper Owens, word of D.C.'s audition and voice quickly spread through the ranks of hard rock. As a result Cooper was contacted from groups in both Europe and the U.S. for his vocal skills. After going over several prospects from different bands, D.C. decided on joining the Danish hard rock act Royal Hunt. After several phone conversations with the band D.C. flew to Denmark to begin rehearsing for a Japanese tour that was to begin in just three weeks. While with Royal Hunt he recorded two studio albums ("Moving Target" and "Paradox") plus was voted #1 top vocalist in BURRN! Magazine two years in a row, D.C. realized even after four successful years with Royal Hut something was still missing. D.C would leave the group to begin working on a solo project. A self-titled release is what transpired.

TRACK FRAGMENTS:

"Dream" -This track has a great bass drum pattern. It also shows D.C. has great vocal control within the lyric arrangement. I thought the pattern changes between the verse and pre-chorus was pretty cool.
"Easy Livin"- The song "Dreams" leads right into this classic 70's song originally done by Uriah Heep. This cover song really shows the musicians talent within the group. One of the things I enjoyed the most was really being able to hear the great bass line this song has.
"The Angel Comes"-The vocal arrangement an style of this song are of a Judas Priest and Queensryche mix. The backing vocals are of a choir like fashion.
"Until The End" -This first ballad shows D.C.'s great vocal control along with great lyric writing. The chorus has the cool vocal over dubbed section. There is sections in through the song where they add small acoustic guitar patterns. This really adds to the power of not only the song but D.C.'s voice as well.
"Within Yourself"- This up-tempo rocker has a huge opening guitar pattern. At the beginning of the chorus the drummer plays the patterns using just his tom-toms, which is not unusual but really brought out the power of the song.
"Three Generations" - This semi up-tempo rocker has a great opening lead guitar scale. This was also another song that reminded me a lot of Queensrhyce within the structure of he song. As I'm listening to this track now, it amazes me of D.C.'s vocal abilities.
"Chained" -This track is an instrumental. It reminded me a lot of the stuff on Mike Oldsfields 'Tubular Bells".
"Freedom"-This ballad leads in from "Chained". It is also one of the many on this release that demonstrates D.C.'s vocal capabilities. The song has this huge melodic solo towards the end.
"Take Me In" -This song I thought sounded the most progressive in an almost Emerson, Lake, and Palmer way. There is a very small but powerful melodic solo right before the last chorus.
"Forgive Me" - This mid-tempo rocker has some great drum pattern changes. There is a vocal type break down about half way though the song, that is a lot like what Queensrhyce accomplished on some of their earlier material.
"Whisper" - This track is defiantly influenced by Queensryce. At the end of the song there is this little Acoustic guitar ending that you really don't expect.
"The Union"- This last song and ballad has a powerful vocal intro along with a bluesy type piano pattern.

This is a strong first solo release from the ex-Royal Hunt vocalist. If this CD were a sample of what is to come, It would not shock me if D.C. is a name that hard rock fans will remember for a long time.