John 5 – The Art of Malice

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In between touring and recording with Rob Zombie, as well as guest spots playing and writing with others, John “5″ Lowery puts out occasional instrumental guitar solo albums, and The Art of Malice is his fifth, not including the remix album Remixploitation. Following a couple of very strong albums in Requiem and The Devil Knows My Name, this new one doesn’t stand up alongside them as a lesson in guitar music like they did. What makes The Art of Malice a more difficult listening experience than The Devil Knows My Name or Requiem is that the album alternates constantly between country widdling with a little too much surf guitar twang and rock or metal. The Nightmare Unravels has an element of Buckethead‘s brilliant insanity, while Ya Dig? could be an upbeat Steve Morse number, but having already gone through two annonymous country tracks before even reaching the latter, the album is already getting boring. The needless cover of Ace Frehley‘s Fractured Mirror is absolutely note-for-note identical to the original and several of the later tracks fail to catch any sort of spark, especially as any momentum is killed off by another nonedescript country-tinged track. This is not John’s best, nor most accessible work so far. The playing is of course first class, but the songs and constantly shifting, starkly contrasted styles ruin the flow necessary for a strong instrumental record, something he managed on The Devil Knows My Name. Steve Morse’s Major Impacts is another perfect example of varying styles on an album that flows. But these tracks are neither Buckethead-eccentric enough, which would have justified the challenging nature of listening to the album, or as well crafted as Morse’s work. There are some good tracks to take away from this, but not enough.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Instrumental, Quick.Play Reviews, John 5