PASSION AND WARFARE

This is a hard review for me. Personally, I both hate and love Mr. Steve Vai. He is a f**kin' great guitar player, one of the best in history, and I love his touch, his style, his overall sound and personality. But I DON'T LIKE is his supposedly "so good that you won't easily understand them" compositional skills. I've always found his style a bit uninspired, no matter how much he boasts his albums and his past Zappa scholarship. I remember buying this album and being very excited about it (before listening) thinking that this could be the guitar album that would change my life. Then I listened to it and the big disappointment came. Since the first thing i look for in a musician or band is a certain deepness at composition, I was very disappointed with the songs on this album. Apart from a couple of song, which indeed are very good (see "For the love of God" or "Liberty"), the rest is pretty dull for me. There are no particular hooks or memorable riffs, as you find in Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Clapton, and so on. There is just flashy and very tasty guitar playing and a stellar production (especially considering that the whole thing was engineered by Vai himself). But I don't think that's enough. Sorry. Anyway, if you're contented with great guitar playing, incredible musicianship (by Vai as well as by his collaborators), and great production, you will be happy with this one. But if you look for deepness in composition, look somewhere else.