It is said that Zakk Wylde declined the invitation from Bob Kulick —the ghost guitarist of Kiss and specialist in “tribute” disc— to participate in the ultimate tribute to the great Randy Rhoads, as great as he was unknown despite being one of the pioneers of sound of the electric guitar as we know it today. A genius who suffered a tragic plane crash when he had barely begun to release his creativity—he was 25 years old— in Quiet Riot and made music for the mindless Ozzy Osbourne.



Wylde did well to get crazy. Surely he quickly realized that everything was a montage to the glory of Ripper Owens, the ex-Judas, whose throat clearly is the star of an album in which he sings 8 of its 11 songs and who reaps some pretty painful criticism in the specialized guild. And mind you, there are no less than 20 "guest stars" in total ... The first cover song, Crazy Train obviously, is interpreted by Serj Tankian (System of a Down).

But at Guitars Exchange, what interests us most are those who are responsible for the six strings of an album that is not as simple as it seems. And it is not about making a fool of themselves in front of their respective fans. In fact, in general they are responsible for saving this Ultimate Tribute by making it somewhat homespun.



The list kicks off with Tom Morello (Rage Against the Machine); followed by Doug Aldrich (Whitesnake); Jon Donais (Shadows Fall, Anthrax); Alexi Laiho (Children of Bodom); Bruce Kulick (brother of the of producer, Kiss); George Lynch (Dokken); Dweezil Zappa; Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake); Gus G. (Ozzy, Firewind); Brad Gillis (Night Ranger) and Bernie Tormé (Ozzy, Gillan…).

As you can see, it is quite a sufficiently attractive line-up that merits a listen. The rest of the “guest stars” deserve an honourable mention, such as Vinnie Appice on the drums. The negative judgment from critics reeks of certain case of “bad blood,” whose target is none other than Tim Ripper Owens. A bit of truth they do not lack.