Label: Sony Music
Release date: 24.07.2015
Album length: 64.01 min.
Production: Joihn Cuniberti & Joe Satriani
Genre: Instrumental Rock / Art Rock
Rating: 8.5 / 10
The man who more or less enthroned instrumental guitar rock in the second half of the eighties and changed the music world forever, now one of the most respected and admired guitarists on the planet, Joe Satriani, is back on the scene with his, believe it or not, 15th studio release. Back at the production helm with him is Satriani’s longtime buddy John Cuniberti, who last produced Satch’s album “Professor Satchafunkillus And The Musterion of Rock” (2008). For this record Satch kept his live crew, “carried” from the stage into the studio, made up (for years now) of the outstanding multi-instrumentalist Mike Keneally and the new super rhythm tandem from The Aristocrats, Marco Minnemann (drums) and Bryan Beller (bass).
“Shockwave Supernova” doesn’t really hand the listener any surprises or novelties anymore. Satch delivers his tried-and-tested formula, which, within his own strictly instrumental style, once again puts the guitar language to the test across a bunch of genres, checking its “compatibility” with them. There are 15 tracks. Definitely too many, since some of them sound too much like old, already-tried ideas from Satriani’s earlier albums. That’s why the album runs too long. Still, Satriani is mellowing with the years. He enjoys teamwork more and more, and above all he focuses on his guitar playing in the calmer passages, where he now prefers to save his notes and tones and subordinates the development of a song to creating atmosphere first and foremost. In that respect, hanging out with the musicians mentioned above is more than welcome, since Keneally and Minnemann in particular are players who, in a different musical environment, push straight into the realm of avant-garde, progressive jazz and rock fusion. These very musicians are an important element of the new era in Joe Satriani’s music, because their contribution brings badly needed freshness and dynamics to how things unfold, given that Satriani’s style has been set in concrete for years and is therefore predictable. There’s only one basic condition: the bandleader has to give you some room where your creative genius can leap out. Here too Satriani has calmed down, so he successfully tames his ego, which isn’t always front and center on the album.
Once again Keneally is the key tipping point on the scale, using his lucidity and sparkling ideas to add rich color and contrast to the content of Joe Satriani’s guitar phrases, so that the songs, all in all, breathe dynamically (one of the album’s better tracks is Keep On Movin’). The basic premise remains musicality. Satriani has always strived for polished melodies, and this time is no different. That’s why “Shockwave Supernova” goes straight into the ear, fast. Even though the album features top-class musicians who can’t wait to jump into the craziest musical experiment possible, the boss doesn’t let them go there across the record, constantly making sure the songs never fall apart into a pile of musically disconnected motifs (Cataclysmic).
All in all, the album gives off a feeling of mature calm. The crew often builds a backdrop around Satriani aimed at creating moods (Lost in Memory, All Of My Life, or the closing two tracks), even though the album opens with a bang on the title track and is backed up by similarly harder rock outings later on (On Peregrine Wings with its incorporation of a gypsy rhythm, and If There Is No Heaven, which could easily have served as the album opener). Then there’s the lucid Crazy Joey, followed by San Francisco Blue, both rooted in rock ‘n’ roll or boogie rock, and after that we run into a short bit of filler in the form of the “childish” Butterfly And Zebra. Although these tracks add a touch of lucidity to the album, you don’t really miss them, since Satriani already played out these kinds of tricks on past albums.
Generally speaking, “Shockwave Supernova” is an extremely nice new studio release from a seasoned master and refined guitar virtuoso, one that brings nothing we haven’t heard before and so doesn’t deliver a creative peak of his career. It’s an album tailor-made for fans of Satriani’s guitar playing, and its ultra-melodic catchiness is the factor that gives it an approachable edge that less demanding listeners can tune into as well. Satriani simply knows what he’s doing, and so he knows how to deliver a record that pretty much anyone can like!
author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Shockwave Supernova (3:49)
2. Lost in a Memory (4:12)
3. Crazy Joey (3:40)
4. In My Pocket (4:12)
5. On Peregrine Wings (5:26)
6. Cataclysmic (5:02)
7. San Francisco Blue (3:19)
8. Keep on Movin’ (4:23)
9. All of My Life (4:02)
10. A Phase I’m Going Through (3:59)
11. Scarborough Stomp (3:59)
12. Butterfly and Zebra (1:47)
13. If There Is No Heaven ( 5:07)
14. Stars Race Across the Sky (4:45)
15. Goodbye Supernova (5:46)
Line-up:
Joe Satriani – guitar, keyboards, bass on track no. 4, harmonica
Mike Keneally – keyboards, guitar on track no. 2
Marco Minnemann – drums on tracks no. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15
Vinnie Colaiuta – drums on tracks no. 3, 4, 8 and 11
Bryan Beller – bass on tracks no. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15
Chris Chaney – bass on tracks no. 3, 4, 8 and 11
Bobby Vega – bass on track no. 9
Tony Menjivar – percussion on track no. 9
John Cuniberti – percussion on tracks no. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 14
