An okay album, but not outstanding.

If you were a guitarist about to release an instrumental album, what do you think would be the worst time you could release it? I would suggest that that would be at the same time as somebody like, say, Steve Vai or Joe Satriani was going to release their new album. And guess what? Satriani is about to release his latest and Vai has a live album out as well. And the thing about instrumental guitar albums is, you have to be bloody good to pull them off, and even then... the likes of Satriani can do tracks that don't stick in the mind.

For me, this was really a problem when I first listened to this album, as I was listening to Satriani's latest at the same time, and there was nothing on here that really grabbed my attention. Having listened to it again however, it started to get a bit better.

The opening track is '21 Is Only Half The Truth' (keeping up the tradition of guitarists coming up with barmy song (and album) titles) and it's a strong, medium-tempo opener, while 'Greetings From Mr Knowitall' is a little too repetitive for my liking. And this is the problem. When you're competing against someone like Satriani, you've got to really be on the ball to come up with something that grabs you round the throat and doesn't let go. That doesn't really happen here and while 'March Of The Spider' is a foot tapper, it wasn't still playing in my head like Satriani's was.

There is also a bit of self-indulgence in here, with 'Riffology', 'Sergeant Tapper's Amazing Box Of Lullabies' and 'Tappology,' which are a little tedious, but then it wouldn't be a guitar album without some of that would it? 'The Foggy Waltz' is a nice, gentle, melodic tune but the album is slightly let down by the final track, 'Transition To Reality', which is basically the same backing track played over and over again; a bit strange.

So I think this is an okay album, but not outstanding, and there is quite a bit of work to be done before Andreas Vockrodt catches up with the leaders of the pack.

Andy Brailsford