IMPELLITTERI - review added 6th April 2009
Album Review: Wicked Maiden (2009)
For fans of: heavy metal... and guitarists who are better than you, and him, and her, and possibly everyone else...
Impellitteri is the band of shred meister Chris Impellitteri. The line-up has altered over the years. For this, the 9th studio album, the members include James Pulli on bass
and Brandon Wild on drums. Also welcomed back to the fold is Rob Rock who appears on his first Impellitteri album since 2000's Crunch.
If you've heard other Impellitteri albums you'll already have a decent idea what this is going to sound like. It's back-breakingly heavy, Millennium Falcon quick and bloody catchy and fun. You can argue all day about who is the fastest or best guitarist in the world, but there's no doubt C.I. is very near the top of the pile. The way he combines velocity, bone crunching riffs and absolute control is astonishing.
The title track opens the album in ferocious style. Rob Rock's screaming vocals and the whip cracking drums are monstrously pleasurable. There's nothing spectacularly original about the sound, but Impellitteri (at least with Rob Rock on vocals) has always stuck rigidly to the phrase 'don't fix what ain't broke'. The track, and indeed much of the album, is like a head-on collision between Dragonforce and World War 3.
'Weapons Of Mass Destruction' is one of the better tracks. The chorus is, whilst not exactly sing along, very memorable and rhythmically wild. The song lollops along at such a pace you'll end up getting dragged in its dusty wake. You'll have a big smile on your face though. 'Garden Of Eden' has a guitar section in the middle almost identical to the grinding riff four minutes into Pantera's '5 Minutes Alone'. We'll note it down as an homage to Dimebag rather than a direct rip-off, although Chris Impellitteri is naughty for making his version sound even more technically impressive! :)
'The Vision' has highly memorable segments hidden away in a reasonably routine exterior. The lead riff is medium paced and pleasantly chugging, whilst the percussive elements speed up and coax the song into a near battle metal experience at the choruses. The instrumental interludes have a beautifully funky centre and are insanely heavy. 'Eyes Of An Angel' has the biggest chorus on the record. It's a real endorphin-factory and ridiculously likeable. 'High School Revolution' is even more manic and utterly bonkers. It's a bit like one of those anti-establishment songs from Twisted Sister or Motley Crue, but played in undiluted Impellitteri style.
'Wonderful Life' is fast paced and seems incapable of pausing for breath. The sledgehammer segment in the middle, which morphs into a break-neck solo... which morphs into a pump action shotgun of a guitar sound is phenomenally good. 'The Battle Rages On' is massively groovy and tungsten-on-tungsten heavy. It closes the album in great style.
Wicked Maiden is a touch one dimensional and doesn't do much that's radically new or exciting, but it undoubtedly takes Impellitteri's work to a higher plateau than before. The guitar work is breathtaking but, be in no doubt, this is a team effort. Rob Rock's singing is awesome, and the drumming is something else. The bass is lost in the mix, but chances are the sound would have been empty without it. There aren't necessarily any massive standout tracks on the album, but for consistency from start to finish this is (just about) the new Impellitteri benchmark.
Check out... The similarity between 'Garden Of Eden' and '5 Minutes Alone'.
Track List:
01. Wicked Maiden
02. Last Of A Dying Breed
03. Weapons Of Mass Distortion
04. Garden Of Eden
05. The Vision
06. Eyes Of An Angel
07. High School Revolution
08. Wonderful Life
09. Holyman
10. The Battle Rages On
Label: Metal Heaven
Artist's websites: MySpace
