I've always had a love-hate opinion of Racer-X. As a band, they are second to none in terms of their ability to perform death-defying musical acrobatics, and this album might be considered their most testing effort to date. As a rhythm section Scott Travis (drums), John Alderete (bass) and Paul Gilbert (guitar) are as tight as a snare drum in a frigid-aire. The rhythms these guys pull off are truly amazing. All seem to share the same twitchy-tendon sense of rhythm: often leaping from quarter-note to sixteenth-note fills and back again within the confines of one measure and in perfect unison. When you hear these guys play together, you can't help but think of a formula-1 race car, calibrated for optimum performance, growling around turns and leaping to full speed at the blink of an eye,...AWESOME!
While all three of these guys are mind-bogglingly good, a special mention has to be made of Paul Gilbert, who on this album shows us the widest dynamic range he has yet displayed with Racer-X. In the rhythms, we not only get to hear his trademark palm-mutted aggressive chugging that often jumps from 0 to 100mph at the drop of a quarter-note, but we also get to hear him lightly strumming through open chords that are held and left to resonate. As for his leads, well...there's only one Paul Gilbert. As expected, there are plenty of the blistering thirty-second-note sequences that Paul is famous for (I gotta believe they just take his guitars out back and shoot them when he's done recording 'cause there can't be a note left in 'em), but we also hear Paul playing in way we haven't yet on a Racer-X album: smooth legato runs capped off with long sustains. In terms of tempo, we also hear his playing going 'out-of-the-box' in an effort to convey emotions other than the perfectly syncopated, pure testosterone we've come to expect. Paul successfully blends his heavy-picked, string-spanking fills with slippery-fluid runs that are a real treat to the ears and perfectly fit within the framework of the songs. Really nice!
As to the songs themselves, I'm not sure if being 'more commercial' was the intent with this outing, but I can't help but think that tracks were made available to songs that might have the potential to garner a wider audience. Rather than just thrill the hardcore Racer-X fans with the mind-bending, sonic assault we all know and love, it seems that a conscious effort was made to 'soften' some of the selections in the hope that they might appeal to the masses. I'm not saying the guys are copping out, widespread appeal and selling albums is right near the top of reasons to release an album (it's THE reason for many artists), but I think the entire premise is inherently flawed: softer songs = wider appeal. I think this is a especially true with this crew of musicians and the ultra-high-tension offerings they've produced thus far. "They just ain't made to do ballads!" was what an old buddy of mine from my hometown told me on the phone after he listened to it...and I think he summed it up. We used to air-guitar to Street-Lethal in Highschool, falling into convulsive spasms during the solo. Needless to say, time since this album's release has proven my friend correct - they just ain't made to do ballads...
As to the vocals,...I'm sorry,...I just can't stand Jeff Martin's voice...My buddy from Highschool has never been real thrilled with it either, but he isn't nearly as irritated with it as I am....Jeff's ever-present, and ever-widening vibrato drives me crazy, and the 'rock-singer' affecting he does is too much for me to bear sometimes. Do I think Jeff has a good voice? You bet I do, I think he has a GREAT voice,...but it's not the voice for this band,...or rock n' roll for that matter. Sure he can hit the highest of high notes as we are constantly made aware of by his frequent David Lee Roth-like ultra high wheeze, but to me his voice isn't a natural 'rock' voice. It sounds like he is constantly affecting his natural tone in an effort to be more edgy. I think if he dropped the rock-affecting and went with his 'real' voice he would sound more like a Broadway singer than a rock n' roll singer. I could easily see him singing in the Broadway production of Tommy, or some other production (I'm not real up on what's running on Broadway). I come from a family of singers, one of whom (my older sister) was on broadway for a couple of years, so through osmosis I've become pretty sensitive to what voice characteristics can be manipulated to affect a desired tone and Jeff Martin is going through more manipulations while singing than Greenspan does with interest rates (guess that dates me)...:)
In conclusion: love the band, hate the vocals, but all in all it's definately an album to pick up, listen to, and be amazed....
Finally the PERFECT band for me
Technical Prowess & Groove = 5 stars / Lyrics-Vocals = 1star
13 tracks
