martindavey87
With Stuck Mojo falling apart and guitarist Rich Ward expressing his frustration with not having a singer, it seemed logical that the man known as "The Duke" would form a new band, set in a more traditional style of metal as opposed to Mojo's brand of rap metal.
The result; 'The Way I Am', an album that consists of "demos" that Rich decided to release anyway, even though the band never really got going. The quality of the music and the sound still puts most other bands to shame. Ward's unique tone and style are stamped firmly all over this, his riffs blending perfectly between old-school metal and the rising nu-metal scene, making this a great metal record for fans of either genre.
With a mixture of different musicians appearing on different songs, Ward is surrounded by all the regular faces that fans of Stuck Mojo and Fozzy would come to recognize. Drummer Frank Fontsere appears on everything the Duke puts out, along with guitarist Billy Grey and bassist Dan Dryden (both of Fozzy fame) making welcome additions. Then there's four different vocalists - three of which nobody has really heard of. Dale Steele? Eddie Gowan? Mike Schneider? Who?! (Rich himself being the forth). All of them do a good job however, with their vocals perfectly suiting the music.
Some of the compositions on this album have since been re-recorded by Wards other projects, including Fozzy and Walking With Kings, and a lot of Sick Speed demos (released on separate demo disks) went on to be used for Rich Wards solo release. But this album can still stand tall by its own merits. 'The Test', 'A Time and a Place', 'Can't See Straight' and 'Autumn Brings' are all perfect examples of why Rich Ward is one of the best metal guitarists out there.