Ronnie Romero/Absolva - Bannermans, Edinburgh 10th March 2025

There was a remarkably big Monday evening crowd in at Bannerman’s and they had all turned up early to enjoy Absolva. Judging by the reception they were given, I assumed that the Manchester lads had built up a rapport and a following from previous appearances in Scotland’s capital, but it turned out that this was their first state visit in ten years. They have been frequent visitors to the Weegie side of the country though, and they’ll be back at The Garage on 30th March with Phil Campbell and his illegitimate male offspring.

Always a hard-working band, they got straight down to business and immediately got the heads nodding with ‘Code Red’ and the Appleton brothers to the fore, as usual. Luke (the baldy one) leads on guitar and shared the vocal on the second number ‘Fire in the Sky’, while Chris (the top-knot one) stars on vocals and impressive facial expressions, which are worth a thousand words – not that he’s short of those either. 

After 13 years, five albums and a relentless gigging schedule, they are tight, loud and noisily enjoyable. They describe their music as “pure heavy metal” and that’s what they play – no more and certainly no less. Album number six is called ‘Justice’ and will be released on 7th May 2025 (available to pre-order). They previewed the excellent song ‘Find My Identity’ from it – it’s the one with the video that Ronnie Romero also sings on – and it could be their best yet.

Why do Absolva have some wee shades of grey in their hair? Because they “Refuse to Dye”; or is it “Die”? That was the penultimate song of their set and they closed with ‘From Beyond the Light’ which facilitated one last bit of quality power-widdling dual guitar.  Absolva didn’t have to work hard to get this crowd on their side, but they did anyway. They will always be welcome whenever they decide to return to the classy side of the country again.

Chilean singer Ronnie Romero powered out of the blocks with a rousing ‘Stand Up and Shout’ which quickly established his classic rock credentials and highlighted the rich Dio-esque quality of his voice. 

Now based in Spain, Ronnie initially came to most folks’ attention when he was hand-picked as Blackmore’s singer for the Rainbow revival shows. He has subsequently enhanced his reputation with Schenker, various projects including Sunstorm, and a pair of covers albums in his own name. 

His 2023 “proper” solo album for Frontiers, ‘Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters’ was a significant step forward though and songs from that album anchored this set admirably. ‘I’ve Been Losing You’ was a melodic rock treat, with prominent keyboards from Fran Gil Torres, and ‘Chased by Shadows’ was another early highlight, featuring an Iommi-esque instrumental change-up.

The bluesy ‘Crossroad’, also from “TML, TMM”, began with a short interpolation of Whitesnake’s ‘Love Ain’t No Stranger’ and Romero had a pretty reverential bash at emulating Lord Coverdale of Saltburn’s lonesome and lascivious tones, but Ronnie James Dio is definitely still the most obvious vocal comparison. 

Other highlights from the Old Testament of rock included vivid renditions of Rainbow’s ‘Stargazer’ and ‘Kill the King’ plus ‘Rainbow in the Dark’ which closed the main set. 

A three-song Deep Purple encore included ‘The Battle Rages On’, ‘Child in Time’ and ‘Burn’. They were good and well-received but the other songs that stuck in my head the most were ‘Castaway on the Moon’ and ‘Vengeance’ from ‘Too Many Lies, Too Many Masters’ and I really do think this is the way forward for Ronnie Romero. 

A smattering of RJD vocal covers will always be welcome - and why wouldn’t he do these when he’s so good at it - but I will look forward to future solo releases and hearing some more quality original material infiltrating the set, in due course.