Mark Wonder - Dragon Slayer (Irie Ites Records)

Keeping in mind the proverb: "Good things come to those who wait!", with 'Dragon Slayer' Mark Wonder might well have created his masterpiece. As we've come to expect from Irie Ites, for this long player once again a number of classic riddims were revamped. We recognized, among others, Yabby You's 'Run Come Rally' ('Freedom Fighters'), Mighty Diamonds' 'One Brother Short' ('Celebrating This Life'), The Gladiators' 'Dreadlocks The Time Is Now' of ('Break Dem Assundah') and Mikey Dread's 'Roots And Culture' ('Militancy'). As far as we're concerned the whole track list of 'Dragon Slayer' doesn't really contain any disappointments, making this one of those rare albums managing to captivate from beginning to end; something which has truly become a rare occurrence. By now you might have gathered we're both Mark Wonder and Irie Ites fans and it's therefore we'll have no issue offering 'Dragon Slayer' a high spot in our 2017 album top 10. Big up Mark Wonder and our compliments to the French crew of Irie Ites!