Burning Rain, the hard rock band founded by guitarist extraordinaire Doug Aldrich (Revolution Saints, The Dead Daisies, ex-Whitesnake, Dio) and vocalist Keith St. John (Montrose, Kingdom Come), have released their fourth studio album, Face The Music. Aldrich recently spoke with Ultimate Guitar about the record; an excerpt from the interview is available below.

UG: What can the fans can expect from this record? And how does it compare to your previous one?

Aldrich: "It's maybe a little grittier, little simpler. I think the last record, (2013's) Epic Obsession, was a really good comeback for us. It kind of picked up where we left off with the second record. But this record is a little different. It's a little deeper overall at different things. But there's still tons of guitar, there's still tons of solos and guitar parts. I'd just say it's a little grittier, this album."

UG: It took a long time for you between the albums, especially between Pleasure To Burn and Epic Obsession, since you went on to do other stuff. What's it like getting back to the same band or a project after such a long hiatus?

Aldrich: "Well, me and Keith have always been really good friends, and we've been brothers in arms working on this Burning Rain thing. But after 'Pleasure to Burn,' I joined Dio and he joined Ronnie Montrose. So there really wasn't a possibility for a while for us to carry on because those other jobs were actually paying bills and everything, something that we needed to do. And it was a great opportunity for both of us, for me to play with Ronnie is amazing, and Ronnie Montrose is one of the great guitar players. So it just worked out.

Then I joined Whitesnake and got really busy. And until finally, around 2013, we decided to put out our third record, which is called 'Epic Obsession.' And people should check it out because it's a really great record, I really love it. It's got some different stuff on it. And some even more intense guitar playing maybe. But then I got busy with some family stuff, I left Whitesnake, went through a relationships flip and everything, I wanted to be home with my son. Then I ended up picking a job in Vegas, playing with some guys, basically like a supergroup cover band. It was fun for a little while but I got burned on it really quickly. Because there's no improvisation in that job.

"At that same time I was getting burnt out, Glenn Hughes gave me a call and said 'Hey, come on, let's do a trio.' So I did that, that was a lot of fun. And then eventually I decided to join The Dead Daisies. And then in between the time with The Dead Daisies, Keith and I started writing for this record, for Face the Music. And we got a group of songs that we're really excited about. And then I found out that The Dead Daisies was gonna have a break for 2019 for a part of the year. And Keith and I pushed and finished the record. We got new band members, Brad Lang, and Blas Elias, and now we're ready to go. We're ready to start supporting it. We're gonna come to Europe and do an acoustic tour, we're gonna play at the Frontiers Festival as a full band. And then probably in the fall we'll do another European run, probably cover as many places as we can."

Read the complete interview here.

Burning Rain was established in 1998 by guitarist Doug Aldrich and vocalist Keith St. John. After meeting through mutual friends, Aldrich and St. John commenced work on what would eventually become their self-titled debut album. The 1999 record established Burning Rain as a hungry yet seasoned group of musicians. Although the album was limited in its release, it did receive rave reviews from fans and critics alike for their take on heavy, blues-y hard rock. The following year, Burning Rain released the follow up, Pleasure To Burn, which showed a matured Aldrich-St John collaboration that gained even higher praise than the first album.

In 2001, Aldrich joined DIO and later departed in 2003 as he was approached by David Coverdale to join a newly reformed Whitesnake, while St. John joined forces with guitar legend Ronnie Montrose. While still in Whitesnake, Aldrich started working on new Burning Rain music, which saw the light of day in 2013 as the album Epic Obsession. Their third release was again met with enthusiasm from fans and critics alike. Aldrich would later leave Whitesnake and join The Dead Daisies and Revolution Saints, which left Burning Rain on an extended hiatus.

Now, finally a new album is ready for release! Face The Music is a blues driven hard rock record which is truly a tour-de-force. With a renewed lineup featuring the amazing Blas Elias (Slaughter) on drums and bassist Brad Lang (Y&T), the album evokes the sound of the classic 70's hard rock scene, but also stays true to the Burning Rain sound.

Tracklisting:

"Revolution"
"Lorelei"
"Nasty Hustle"
"Midnight Train"
"Shelter"
"Face The Music"
"Beautiful Road"
"Hit And Run"
"If It's Love"
"Hideaway"
"Since I'm Loving You"

"Face The Music" video:

"If It's Love":

"Midnight Train" video:

Lineup:

Doug Aldrich - Guitar
Keith St. John - Vocals
Brad Lang - Bass
Blas Elias - Drums