Is there really a "Bollywood Chris Cornell," as Pheroze's fans likened him in his last band, Namanista? Perhaps! - given the former Century Media hardcore metal band Scar Culture frontman's first solo LP. Want multi-influence? How 'bout a New Yorker born in England of Indo-Persian roots, raised in draconian Saudi Arabia by Zoroastrian parents (a religion of Iran-India that preaches order over chaos and good works based on the prophet Zoroaster) who loves classic rock? Pheroze puts that unusual background to work, playing everything but drums, and howling like a Eastern-transposed Ozzy Osbourne - Cornell - Ian Anderson - Freddie Mercury - Bruce Dickinson - Frank Zappa banshee, like a metal opera singer. But his music isn't modern metal, it's the early '70s more heavy-blues-gone-bad antecedent, only with middle eastern tones a plenty, like an LP of bastard sons of Zozo's 1975 opus "Kashmir."
- Jack Rabid, The Big Takeover, Issue #62