Search - Roaring Lion :: Roaring Lion

The Long Forgotten Man of X. . .

Achis | Kingston, JA/Philipsburg, SxM | 01/20/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"It seems like a really long time ago now that Lion/Roaring Lion roamed the legendary halls of Xterminator studios. Since his apparent vanishing artists such as Chezidek and Turbulence (who weren't Xterminator artists at the time)(especially Turbulence) have ascended to higher levels than he himself was, at his peak. And the former head man of Xterminator during Lion's time, Sizzla Kalonji has sailed into the reggae stratosphere. And Prince Malachi even has disappeared himself, only to reappear in 2004.



Seemingly the last time this artist was heard from was in 2000 when he guested on labelmate Turbulence's reggae major debut, Rising on the excellent I Don't Know. It is unfortunate however, because all it takes a cursory listen to this album, his 1998 debut to see his apparently high talent level. His style is nothing at all special, however in his straight-forwardness lies an ability to hog-tie his flows to some of the best late 90's Xterminator riddims to come down the road.



Probably the best of the 11 tracks that comprise Roaring Lion is the closer, Babylon Burn Down which almost comes off as a party song for the Xterminator "anywhere yu see Lion, Luci, Fred Locks and Sizzla, Babylon bun dung lak Rizzla!". Its a different way to approach the typical burn babylon song and it comes off well. Also really like Saw Them, which is almost a dancy song but with Lion's ever-present good message. Selassie a God, Judgement (I think every artist ever to come down Xterminator has had a tune named Judgement or with some slight variation). And LOVE Will There be Peace.



Overall, I'd probably categorize Lion's style more derivative of Buju Banton than Sizzla with whom is most often compared, at times he comes off exactly as new age Buju. This album went very unheralded, it wasn't until his second album (even furtherly confusely titled Roaring, after he had dropped 'Roaring' from his offical performing name) that he had began to receive attention, and although that album was somewhat overlooked, it was still widely critically acclaimed. With his style, however, there isn't much difference between the 2 and surely if you enjoyed the second, tracking down this hard to find gem will prove more than worth it for you.



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