Personnel: Steve Vai (vocals, various instruments, guitar); Devin Townsend (vocals); Will Riley (keyboards); Stu Hamm, John Avila, Fabrizio Gossi (bass); Deen Castronovo, Greg Bissonette, Chris Frazier, Mark Mangini, Robin DiMaggio (drums); C.C. White, Tracee Lewis, Miroslava Mendoza Escriba, Kimberly Evans, John "Gash" Sombrotto, Mark McCrite, Jim Altman (background vocals).
A massive, dense, ambitious musical project from one of the best guitar players currently breathing. It opens with a gunshot, sirens and general mayhem. What follows are 74 minutes of concept metal fusion madness. The disc is divided into two sections: "Phase 1" is mostly instrumental, and mostly the kind of frenetic, classically-structured, guitar-centric stuff Vai has spent his career defining and redefining. "Phase 2" adds words.
All of it is really just a showcase for Vai's prodigious talent, and his desire keep the basic sound of the heavy-metal guitar intact while branching out into more ambitious directions. "The Crying Machine" is typical: Vai defines a simple melodic line, then explores that line, and the fretboard, with a vengeance. At times pure wail, at times staccato chirp, but always in the middle of everything, Vai's guitar is more a Presence than a mere musical instrument. It ain't rock and roll, it ain't jazz, it ain't pure fusion...it's simply Steve Vai!
What the critics say...
Q (10/96, p.172) - 3 Stars - Good - "...a well conceived, heavyweight instrumental first half counterbalanced by the rather fragmented second half....the execution throughout is never less than masterful."
