ALBUM REVIEW: LYNCH MOB – The Final Ride (Live Album)

There’s something slightly bittersweet about reviewing The Final Ride. On one hand, this is a powerful live document from one of hard rock’s most enduring guitar heroes in George Lynch. On the other, it underlines a lingering truth longtime fans may struggle to ignore – for many of us, Lynch Mob was always as much about the voice as the riffs.

That’s no disrespect whatsoever to Gabriel Colon, who delivers a genuinely impressive performance throughout. I can attest to that having seen the band on this very tour when they hit Australia last year. He absolutely nailed it live. He has the range, the attitude and the presence. But provenance matters in bands with legacies this deep, and for me Lynch Mob will always be defined by the vocals of Oni Logan – or, the rather fine Robert Mason.

Still, taken purely as a live album in its own right, The Final Ride has plenty going for it.

The set opens strongly with ‘Lightning Strikes Again’ before rolling into ‘River Of Love,’ one of the definitive tracks from Wicked Sensation, an album that remains a genuine glam metal classic. That debut produced archetypal late-80s hard rock cuts like ‘She’s Evil But She’s Mine’ and ‘For A Million Years’ too, which makes their absence here all the more puzzling. Only ‘River Of Love’ and the title track survive the cull.

The Dokken material is unsurprisingly among the album’s strongest moments. ‘Paris Is Burning’ still crackles with energy, but ‘It’s Not Love’ is absolute perfection — one of the greatest hard rock songs of the era and arguably a top ten track of all time in this reviewer’s book. The closing one-two punch of ‘It’s Not Love’ into ‘Wicked Sensation’ is exactly what fans hoped this farewell release would deliver.

Elsewhere, the setlist choices are occasionally baffling.

‘Hell Child’ gets the nod from Wicked Sensation ahead of genuine classics like ‘She’s Evil But She’s Mine’ and ‘For a Million Years’, while ‘Rain’ feels like an even stranger inclusion given the depth of material available from that record. They’re not bad songs by any means – far from it – but when you’re sacrificing career-defining tracks, the selections feel oddly stubborn.

Likewise, the more recent material struggles to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the classics. ‘Caught Up’ from Babylon never truly lifts off in this company, while “Time After Time” sounds polished enough but lacks the spark and memorability of the older material surrounding it. ‘Let The Music Be Your Master’ — representing the oft-maligned Smoke And Mirrors — is another deep cut that hardcore fans may appreciate more than casual listeners.

One thing nobody can question is the musicianship. George Lynch remains an utterly compelling guitarist, still capable of delivering that instantly recognisable tone and fluid phrasing that helped define an era. Gabriel Colon arguably shines brightest on ‘Street Fighting Man,’ even if longtime fans may still hear Robert Mason’s voice in their heads during every chorus.

And perhaps the most telling thing about The Final Ride is what isn’t here. There’s nothing from last year’s supposedly final studio album Dancing With The Devil — a record so under-promoted that not everyone even received it for review. That omission says plenty on its own.

In the end, The Final Ride succeeds less as the definitive final statement of Lynch Mob and more as a reminder of just how incredible the George Lynch catalogue really is. When this album hits its highs, it absolutely soars. And when those final notes of ‘Wicked Sensation’ ring out, the fire still burns.

“The Final Ride” Tracklist:

1.    Lightning Strikes Again
2.    River Of Love
3.    No Good
4.    Caught Up
5.    Hell Child
6.    Let The Music Be Your Master
7.    Time After Time
8.    Paris Is Burning
9.    Rain
10.    Street Fighting Man
11.    It’s Not Love
12.    Wicked Sensation