One of the joys of working with MetalTalk is uncovering an album that you really connect with emotionally. Evolution by Elegant Weapons is such an album. One of the elements I love is the impressive vocal performance by Ronnie Romero. So much so that, even after interviewing Richie Faulkner, I still felt there was a story here that needed to be told.
That feeling did not come out of nowhere. To understand why Evolution resonates so strongly, it is worth going back to where Elegant Weapons began and the very different circumstances surrounding their debut.
Horns For A Halo, the debut album from Elegant Weapons, was well received by and very much enjoyed by the MetalTalk team. Here, Ronnie Romero had inherited vocals sung by another singer and had the challenge to make melody lines, which another had already lived, his own.
“You always have space to put your own performance on it,” Ronnie Romero says. “I learned that working with Richie Blackmore. I needed to fill all those big shoes, from legendary singers. You learn how to perform the songs respecting the original, but not trying to copy. There is a little space in between where you can move when you’re trying to do a cover or trying to sing a song that was previously sung by somebody else.”
For Elegant Weapons, there was less of that type of pressure. “I heard the songs already recorded by another singer,” Ronnie says. “I just try to respect the performance, but also put my own thing so that people can hear that it is Ronnie Romero singing.”
Of course, studio work is only one side of the story. It is when the songs hit the stage that a band really finds its identity and for Elegant Weapons, that moment came quickly.
It was live, at the UK debut at Steelhouse and the Hellfest performance, that this four-piece began to feel that Elegant Weapons was a band that would work. Horns For A Halo was a lockdown experience, all separate, so those first shows meant they had to figure out how to play these songs live.
“It was a little bit hard because the first four shows were with Pantera,” Richie says, “so there was a little bit of pressure there. But then we started to feel very comfortable with each other, obviously, at the personal level, but also playing the songs together.
“Then we realised, I think, that OK, this is something we can work on. We felt very comfortable with each other, and we had a lot of fun playing the songs live.”
That growing sense of unity carried directly into the writing and recording of Evolution, shaping not just how the band played together, but what they wanted the album to represent.
As Riche Faulkner told MetalTalk, this new album is a real evolution for Elegant Weapons, and it now brings a different feeling to the band. I have written how Evolution deserves to be the polar opposite of the drip-fed streaming experience. This is an album, a journey and something you can immerse yourself in.
“That’s what I always try to do with all my music,” Ronnie says. “Even with Backbone. I try to be as organic as possible. We live in a time where everything is through a computer and through the phone, and everybody listens to Spotify, and the quality of the music is not the same anymore.
“There are, in my opinion, too many tools in the studio that fake a little bit the final result of music. One of the things that I don’t like nowadays is to overproduce the music. I always think that we need to make music that you can play live in the same way you recorded it.
“Sometimes you have too much overproduced music with so many layers and tracks. With Richie, we have the same way to see what we need to do. This must be like in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, where we have just four or five guys playing together in the studio and recording all together.”
Nowhere is that approach more evident than in the vocals, where the difference between the first album and Evolution becomes immediately clear.
The recording of the vocals on Evolution was a more collaborative process, built from the ground up. Here, Ronnie Romero, Richie Faulkner and Andy Sneap have really excelled as Romero’s performance is exceptional. For Ronnie, this process enhanced his relationships with the songs.
“Especially for singers, people think that we have this big ego,” Ronnie says. “We always think that we are the best and we don’t need any help. It’s totally the opposite, in my opinion. The more help you can get in the studio and from different points of view is way better.”
The contrast with the debut Elegant Weapons album could not be sharper.
Horns For A Halo saw Ronnie in the studio for a couple of days. “Richie was in a rush also,” Ronnie says, “so I did it the best I could. I got some little details from Andy to change these little things. But it was really fast.
“But, then on, on Evolution we took the time to make it properly, like in the old times. You have the producer, you have the guy who wrote the song, and you have the guy who’s gonna perform the song. So you get this kind of synergy between the three of us.
“Sometimes you get stuck in the studio when you’re recording something, and you don’t understand really what the songwriter means with this vocal line. It feels a little bit strange. It’s not natural, or maybe I should add some backing vocals here or there. You need to do everything by your own. Sometimes you’re right, but most of the time you’re wrong, [laughs] especially if you didn’t write the music.
“But but this time it was fantastic because we spent two weeks on the Zoom call, and they were listening to the sessions live. We were working on every little detail of the vocals, and it was fantastic. I think you can notice that comparing the first album with the second.”
You can most definitely notice the difference, and it is impressive. This was a more exposed process than Ronnie Romero is used to, but it was one that he loved. “I’m not that kind of a singer that I think that I can do everything by my own and everything is perfect,” he says, “and especially coming from people like Andy or Richie, they’re more experienced.
“Andy is a fantastic producer. He has produced many great singers before, so I’m not gonna say no to advice coming from him. It’s like a learning process for me. I’m a little bit of a younger musician. So, for me, all that process is also a learning process, which is fantastic for me.”
That collaborative process becomes even more meaningful when you look at individual songs, especially those carrying their own history before they even reach the studio.
Richie said the ballad Come Back To Me used a chorus that he had been carrying around for almost 20 years. When a song arrives with that much history already attached to it, can Ronnie feel that weight when he is singing it?
“Sometimes you have those special songs that come to the session,” Ronnie says. “Richie tried to put the song with Judas Priest. There is a little demo recorded by Rob, so it’s a lot of pressure. There’s a lot of responsibility because you have a guy who is giving you this special moment, this special song that you think you can perform properly.
“You need to take special care of that and give the best you can. I think we did a good song, especially with the help of the guys. It would be impossible for me to do it alone, just to get the song and try to do it.
“That was one of the songs we really worked hard on in the studio because we wanted it to be special. I think it really shows up in that way at the end.”
Come Back To Me is special, especially when you consider the guitar solo and the temptation to run with something more flashy. But, as Richie Faulkner said, for Elegan Weapons and Evolution, the song always comes first, and everything is around the vocal and the message.
“I try to get that approach in every production I do,” Ronnie says. “I understand the music in the same way he does. It makes our relationship, musically, so special. You can notice that when you listen to the songs.
“We know that probably because we grew up listening to all those legends, and there’s a little bit of influence there also. We understand that the band should be dynamic and every instrument should have their own space during the song. It’s not just showing off skills.
“Again, nowadays we can see a lot of that, especially on YouTube. We have all those players who can play very fast and great licks, and they can sing very high. But it doesn’t bring anything to the table.
“So we wanted it to be special in the way that we’re putting a good song, it’s a great vocal line, it is a great guitar riff, it is a great solo, but it serves to the song and to the whole experience for the people to listen to it.”
While some tracks came with weight and history, others offered something different, a chance to push boundaries and explore new vocal territory.
Holy Roller is a great track. I really love Ronnie Romero’s vocals, and his phrasing is superb. With a grim theme of the Jonestown Massacre, he spits his lyrics out with some venom. I imagine that must have been a fun one to do in the studio.
“Absolutely,” Ronnie smiles. “I really love it when I can go out of my comfort zone because normally when I record an album with a collaboration, they come to me because they know this side of my vocals, where it’s a powerful, close to raspy, close to Dio, and they want that.
“For me, that’s a little bit boring and easy. That’s a safe zone for me. But when somebody comes and really challenges me in the studio and takes me out of my comfort zone, it really pops my creativity as a musician. I’m trying something different. I think the result is more satisfying than just going in and doing the screaming Heavy Metal thing.”
But beyond performance and experimentation, there are moments on Evolution that connect to something far more personal.
Richie Faulkner described Rupture, the instrumental built around the cardiac experience, as something he could hear a heartbeat through when he was writing. It then, in great album form, goes straight into Mercy Of The Fallen immediately. Knowing the connection, did that change the context of how Ronnie Romero approached the vocal?
“I remember when Richie had his health issue,” Ronnie says. “Seeing him performing the songs during the tour we did three years ago, it was encouraging for everybody, because it’s not easy to go through what he went through, get totally recovered and then go to kick ass on stage with Judas Priest.
“Working with Richie is very special in the way that he probably doesn’t know, and he doesn’t believe this, but he is inspiring. He’s bringing this inspiration to other people, to the people around him. That you know you went through hell, you know, it was really close, and now just performing brings this sense of love for the music.
“So every time I have the chance to work with him on these two albums and, even playing shows together, it’s just inspiring. Somehow, you need to take special care working on his music. I think it’s special. He’s not only a great guitar player, but he’s a great songwriter. But he is a special guy. He’s an inspiration for everybody.”
When you step back and look at all these elements together, the collaboration, the growth, the personal stories, then the album begins to reveal a deeper cohesion.
It is this magic that shines through Evolution, and when you put all the pieces together with the stories, it does make it all the more special.
If there is a downside, when we spoke, three days before the Evolution album release, Ronnie Romero realised he had not got his own copy. I wave my copy, signed, at the camera so Ronnie at least knows what they look like.
“I just quickly texted Richie to say I need my copy,” Ronnie laughs. “I didn’t ask for it before. I totally forgot. I’m very excited. I think that people are really gonna like it. Obviously, I know that people are gonna compare it with the first one. But as the album title says, it’s an evolution, it’s a different album. I think it’s more Elegant Weapons than the first one.”
With the album now out in the world, the focus naturally turns to what comes next. Live shows will follow, hopefully with at least a couple later this year and given the quality of this release, there will be solid support for those.
Ronnie Romero is excited, enthusiastic, and appreciative of the support from the people out there. “We just released a single a month ago,” he says, “and the people went crazy, especially the socials. Everybody’s looking forward to the release, and we really love that because actually, we’re like a new band.
“We’ve been together just for two albums. We’ve done 10 shows so far, and the people there are really looking forward. So we really love that, and hopefully the people are gonna love the second album as they love the first one.”
Elegant Weapons release Evolution digitally and on CD on 24 April 2026 via Exciter Records, with a special edition vinyl pressing to follow later in the year. You can pre-save and pre-order Evolution from https://exciter-records.ffm.to/elegantweapons-evolution.
Part One of the interview with Ronnie Romero can be read here.
You can read the MetalTalk Elegant Weapons interview with Richie Faulkner here: Part One and Part Two.
