bum-bumbum-bum… thud THUD thud… budda-budda-budda… bum-bum-bum… THUD  THUD THUD…

Hear that?

It’s a recording I made a little while ago of the jungle drums firing up. Loosely translated, they were saying ‘Ace is back, um, and he told you so’…

After a while the noise was deafening. IT’S HIS BEST ALBUM EVER! Even Ace was getting in on the act, telling anyone with ears to hear that his voice was stronger than ever.

And then he released first single 10,000 Volts and I have to say I felt just a little bit disappointed. To my ears at least, this sounded well, just like anything else the great man has been putting out this century. A better produced version, I’ll grant you, but that’s about it. Excitement levels draining by the second, I went back to listening to the new Magnum and Saxon albums.

Then the boss man idly flicked me 10,000 Volts the album, imperiously instructing me to get a review filed ASA and, indeed P. I gotta say it’s a task I took on with very little enthusiasm.

(Just under forty one minutes later)…

Wahaayyy!!! How wrong can an old Welshman be? After just one turn with this new long player, you’ll be hooked. After treating the neighbours to Cherry Medicine on loop for hours on end, doubly, trebly so. Without doubt, this is the best thing Ace Frehley has put his name to since 1987’s Frehley’s Comet.

The obvious conclusion to draw is that the appearance of Trixterman Steve Brown, now riding shotgun as Frehley’s producer/co-songwriter and general muse du jour has put a real fire under Ace; He sounds genuinely energised on the superb Fighting For Life (which strangely enough would have fitted comfortably on Kiss‘ Hot In The Shade elpee), singing and soloing with genuine fire and purpose. This is an absolute delight to hear, and you can literally see the smoke coming out of that old Les Paul (or was it my speakers?) during the climactic solo that ends the song.

Blinded is a bit of a rager too as Ace ironically prods rampant tech with a sharp stick, bellowing the final warning ‘zeros and ones got us by the balls’, but if that’s not your bag what about some louche, 1978-styled power pop? Constantly Cute‘s got you covered there…

In the bombastic context of the album as a whole, even the song 10,000 Volts makes sense, with the result being absolutely the most complete-sounding record Ace has made in a long, long time. If you don’t come away from this album with a huge and dopey grin stretched across your face then I suspect there may be no salvation for your mortal soul…

Remember that message the drums were pounding out? That’s right. ACE IS BACK (and the Sentinel told you so…)

10,000 Volts releases on February 23rd.