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What the fuck is this?

Rainbow's final album released after Richie left Deep Purple in the 90s. It's in no way up to the classic Rainbow releases but has its moments.

I have to disagree Frenchman, it in no way measures up to classic Rainbow and has no enjoyable moments (or at least I didn't think it did) 76 is too high for this album

RO, read me again.

I was simply correcting a mistake you made saying that this album "has it's moments" or was the fact that I used the same words as you to that point not enough of a clue?

Being a HUGE early Rainbow fan, my first thought was: if Dio era Rainbow is ten out of ten my friend, than this is 5/10 tops.
But listening to it with open mind, this is not a bad record at all, some really good tracks can be heard here. Rating it 70 or so sounds about right.
Good job picking this one.

this album just bored the hell out of me, I listened to it a couple of times really trying to give it a chance but it never got any better and I ended up getting rid of it

Thank you Metalreviews, I actually like this one now, I mean really like. I dug it out, after a decade, and been listening to it in my car for the last couple of days now.
As a standalone hard rock album this is an 8/10 in my book now, and pretty sure my favorite post Dio Rainbow record. It just has less of that 80's radio oriented rock sound to it.

I got rid of this album several years ago but I don't remember it being anywhere near 8/10, 4 maybe 4.5 tops was where I'd put it which is disappointing since I generally liked most of what Ritchie had done, Rainbow post Dio was pretty weak from the few albums I heard though, no doubt his best work was with Deep Purple then with Dio in Rainbow

Checked it out on the 'tube .. very solid stuff. I just like Ritchie's songwriting I guess.

Stand and Fight is a curious killing song pick, individually I'd put it at 5/10 .. much better stuff on the album like Black Masquerade.

Yeah, same here. Ritchie is the man. And Stand And Fight is one of the weakest tracks here IMO.

I think I just dig the blues rock vibe of Stand and Fight, as it fits my listening mood lately (especially rocking it in the car on my way to work when I listened to it getting ready for the review).

Yeah, I guess I was never really a huge fan of the overtly blues-rock side of Rainbow. For example, I think Stargazer is easily their best song, but could probably do without songs like 'Long Live Rock 'n' Roll' or 'Rainbow Eyes'

Got ya. Masquerade is a good song, and epic as hell, but lately Ive been enjoying more down to Earth stripped down tunes. The thing about writing a review is that its really just a snap shot of your current feelings on an album, which could very well change in time as your tastes shift. A few years ago when I was knee deep in Power Metal I may have felt differently. Thats why its fun to come back to an album ever few years, regardless of what you thought of it before. Perspectives change

Anyways, thanks for your thoughts. It is very gratifying to write a review then strike up a conversation outside of flame wars (those are fun to, but for different reasons).