Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Impellitteri
Label: Frontiers Records
Release: 2015
Length: 34:28
Rating: 4.5/5
Chris Impellitteri is a bona fide guitar legend today. His playing is still downright jaw-dropping, and Chris has always been counted among the most unique guitarists in the world and, at the same time, one of the fastest on the planet. Six whole years have passed since Impellitteri’s last studio outing, »Wicked Maiden«, and the new album »Venom« keeps up the expressive tradition of all the band’s previous releases. You could say that with singer Rob Rock rejoining the band, Impellitteri went back to the original musical formula that actually made them famous in the late eighties. That turn began with the album »Wicked Maiden« (2009).
»Venom« delivers insanely fast heavy metal (the razor-sharp opener with the title track, or Domino Theory later on) dosed with classic hard rock elements (e.g. We Owe the Night owes a big thank-you to Rainbow for its inspiration). The new album is once again slathered, from top to bottom, in Chris Impellitteri’s unbelievable shredding. The man remains a constant as a composer, and a constant as a performer too. The partnership with Rob Rock remains karmic. Vocalist and guitarist live in extraordinary symbiosis, and the chemistry is palpable on the new album as well. That seamless fusion of both musicians’ contributions is the main engine driving the new album »Venom«.
»Venom« delivers tremendous musicality, with atmospheric peaks in the mighty chorus melodies shaped by Rock’s outstanding vocal performance. He’s a veteran among singers, and it’s astonishing how his voice keeps such extraordinary power and bite even in his later years. Still, Chris Impellitteri remains the album’s main magnet. His guitar playing thrills every single second, every single moment of the record. Alongside a phenomenal technique that fuses stunning speed with precision, the solos are laced with a healthy dose of baroque-classical elements, while the songs themselves carry a dark vibe, even a whiff of the occult and doom, which fits right in with the basic paradigm of heavy metal (Nightmare).
The excellent new studio album from Impellitteri keeps up the extreme sharpness you’d expect from Impellitteri. Even so, compared to »Wicked Maiden«, the new album delivers even more musical catchiness and bombast. If not sooner, Face the Enemy will suck you into musical perfection. A song built as a classic hard rocker, it would have become an evergreen hit in the eighties. The album has remarkable musical definition, riff punch and compositional detail. The six-year break between the predecessor and the new album was more than useful in this respect, and Impellitteri, being the known perfectionist, made full use of it. The songs get straight to the point, Impellitteri don’t ramble, and the 10 tracks deliver just over 34 minutes of music, without a speck of ballast. That’s how it’s done. Better a little, polished to the end, than a long album full of »stinkers« that steal the listener’s minutes.
»Venom« is an album tailor-made for all fans of Impellitteri, and then some. It will surely take under its wing everyone who bets on an exceptional combination of power, or punch, and musical definition. Chris Impellitteri remains a one-of-a-kind musician in both approach and style. That’s why he’s also the creator of the singularity of Impellitteri’s catalog, and that holds true in full for the excellent new studio album »Venom« too.
Lineup
Rob Rock – vocals
Chris Impellitteri – guitar
James Pulli – bass guitar
John Dette – drums
Production
Chris Impellitteri
Track list
01. Venom
02. Empire Of Lies
03. We Own The Night
04. Nightmare
05. Face The Enemy
06. Dominoe Theory
07. Jehova
08. Rise
09. Time Machine
10. Holding On
