Like the non-evil twin of
Yngwie Malmsteen
, veteran
neo-classical
six-string magician
Chris Impellitteri
is one of those rare guitar heroes capable of restraint when he sets his mind to it -- no mean feat in a category virtually defined by noodling excess. Indeed, his attention to actual songcraft, as opposed to the flurry of notes contained in that small portion of music called the solo, is refreshing and inspiring, and leave one pining for the good old days of
Gary Moore
's metallic period, or even
Malmsteen
himself before he ran out of song ideas. Anyway, as hinted at in the title,
Pedal to the Metal
finds
Impellitteri
's eponymous band tackling numerous
heavy metal
subgenres -- not just his
specialty, of which the only clear examples here are the
power metal
-leaning
"The Writing on the Wall"
and the excellent
"Destruction,"
which is an obvious knock-off of
's
"I'll See the Light Tonight,"
but a good one, at that! Beyond these, we have the speedy, trad-
metal
musicality of opening triplets
"The Iceman Cometh,"
"The Kingdom of Titus (Tribute)"
(featuring a distinct
In Flames
vibe), and
"Dance With the Devil,"
followed by the groove-rounded
alt metal
of
"Hurricane"
(with low-end vocals reminiscent of
Alice in Chains
) and
"Crushing Daze"
(which splices a
Pantera
-like
death metal
grind with a surprisingly sing-song chorus).
"Judgement Day"
makes a few more references to classic
(not least with a recurring fret-burning lick paying tribute to
Randy Rhoads
) before
deliver the dual shocks of
"Punk"
(a silly bit of
comedy
recalling old-school
Anthrax
or
Suicidal Tendencies
at their most irreverent) and
"Propaganda Mind,"
which curiously seems to rewrite
Disturbed
's nu-
smash
"The Sickness."
In the end, older metalheads with a strong knowledge of genre history will probably find this album a bit too obviously derivative from other sources, but younger listeners carrying no baggage may think it brilliant for its variety of scope. [First released in Japan in 2004,
was eventually given an American issue through
Steamhammer/SPV
the following year -- only completely resequenced and minus the bonus track
"Stay Tonight."
] ~ Eduardo Rivadavia