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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 stars with an asterisk,
By
This review is from: Pedal to the Metal (Audio CD)
I'll state this first and foremost, I love Rob Rock's voice. The guy was an amazing part of this band and I was sorry to see him go after Crunch. In my opinion, System X was terrible. Musically it was fine but Graham Bonnet sounded bad and his lyrics were often shameful. Even if they would have been written in the 80s that would have been the case. In other words, I was glad to see him gone even if he was replaced by an unknown. So, how is the new guy? Basically the guy sounds like a mix of Russel Allen of Symphony X and Corey Brown of Magnitude 9 (if you don't know those bands get buying their stuff chop, chop!). In other words he's awesome! For those of you still lost, he's got a smooth mid range voice with plenty of power and some higher range to boot. I'd actually say he's better than Rob in that he's more diverse. Now, with the vocal spot filled to perfection, how is the music? Well, Pedal to the Metal is typical Impellitteri, shredding solos, super speedy riffs, and some awesome groove. If you don't know what that equates to, I always consider them like Dokken at their most metal with even more shredding solos. As for this album, I'd say it takes the heaviness of Crunch and some more 80's sounding stuff and finishes out being quite diverse. No recycled riffs like a few times in the past and no crappy keyboards but tasteful and actually cool keys used sparingly. Outside of the song I'll mention a bit later this whole album is awesome and the production is again flawlessly clear and powerful. Pedal to the Metal is one of the best Impellitteri albums and the bonus track The Fall of Titus is very good. Buy it if you like'em and try it if you never heard'em before. Now for the asterisk. The song Punk is terrible! Remember the days when Metal bands shamelessly threw rap in their songs? You thought that was over didn't you? Well it isn't. It's not nu-metal but the classic embarrasing style hair bands tried their hand at as they passed into obscurity. I gotta admit that they give it their all but it's horrible, the chorus being "Come on get up, P.U.N.K. Punk, Heavy Metal Punk." The miracle of CDRs will allow me to burn this disc without that track but still, it's crap. Two other small things, the sound effects on Hurricane suck and the F-word is said twice. I don't want to hear lightning crashes or lasers being shot in the chorus. It was bad in the 80s but it's really bad now. The f-word is pointless too but isn't a distraction at all. Depends on how offended you are I guess.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
The difference between diversity and identity,
By
This review is from: Pedal to the Metal (Audio CD)
There is a difference between diversity and identity. Diversity is about the growth a band shows in their musical evolution without forgetting who they are and where they are coming from. It's about progressing, moving forward and adding new ideas to your music without distorting the classic sound of your band. However, when too many 'influences' work their way into your compositions, you may end up in an identity crisis and some fans may question the validity of your work.
Impellitteri is a very good band. Their earlier albums with Rob Rock and Graham Bonnet remain as classics in their genres and I still play them on a regular basis. Pedal to the Metal, their new one, however, is a tad too mixed. It does have some of the classical Impellitteri stuff marked by great neoclassical guitar runs, fierce drum and bass combination and powerful vocals and is perfectly exemplified on the closing track "The Writing's on the Wall" featuring classical piano in its breakdown and awesome Malmsteen-like guitars. There are also satisfying works of power metal in the forms of "Dance with the Devil" and "Judgement Day" with slow guitars in the beginning giving way to speedy double drum bass and dark guitar riffs backing Curtis Skelton's singing. Sadly though, Skelton tends to over-scream on songs like "The Iceman Cometh" or sounds more like Layne Staley than himself on the Sabbath-y "Hurricane" marked by heavy riffing and solid lyrics. The more modern songs are what prevent this album from rocking as hard as most of its predecessors. The two-minute "Crushing Daze" is the band's attempt at going more 'commercial' as it displays meaningless down-tuned guitars and mixes them up with weird, inappropriate processed vocals. "Punk", another song I detest, is obviously meant to be funny and a song written to ridicule the current state of the music business. However, it is very irritating to hear the singer doing rap-ish vocals and, aside from Chris' guitar solo, it is hard to tell the difference between this one and a Linkin Park track. I simply don't like to see all those amazing bands treading 'new' musical territory in the name of progression. The band continues to experiment with modern style songwriting on "Propaganda Mind", a song with numerous Linkin Park references except for the uplifting guitar solo. That said, Chris Impellitteri's guitar playing doesn't come close to his earlier stuff either. His tone is screechy in places ("Destruction") and the solos are more simplistic than his work with Rob Rock. Apparently he wanted to mix old with new and see what happens - hopefully he'll go back to doing what he can do best on the next album.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Metal Stomp!,
By
This review is from: Pedal to the Metal (Audio CD)
This my first complete listen of Chris Impelliteri. I have heard bits and pieces of his neoclassical playing in previous releases, and I could say then that he sounded like every other neoclassical shredder. I can understand fans of his prior works of "the shred" will not like this. I do. Though I can't take an album's worth of shredding (how much monotony can one take?), I appreciate it in small doses, where it applies to the musical art form within the structure of a song. This album has a perfect smattering of the different abilities of this guitar great.
To classify "Pedal..." as any one form of metal would be a severe disservice to the release. The vocals are outstanding, I am not sure what the naysayers are talking about. The range is excellent, and the delivery gritty. The lyrical subject matter patterns Chris' typical good v. evil take, and the writing is stellar. The accompanying music has some speedy thrash elements in parts, some classic heavy rock hooks throughout, the rhythm section is steadily heavy and rock solid, and of course there is the phenominal, oppropriate soloing by Chris. I have to say something about Chris' guitar tone and sustain. It is exquisite on this release. I dislike it when shredders cut back on sustain and distortion to make them sound faster and cleaner. Chris throws caution to the wind, and opts for the metal guitar artist overdrive and sustain, and it works to perfection. Some of the solos are jaw dropping, as he mixes tone, mode and key. What an amazing talent. I hope this is the shape of things to come for the band. In closing, the song "Punk" is a hilariously perfect take on the evanescent "rap metal" industry. Impelliteri is not "trying" to do rap metal........you guys missed the point. They are making a parody on how much of an "artless" form of music it was. Listen closely. The song, music, and lyrical content hit the nail on the head, as well as being a kick ass metal song! This album is a pure treat for the thrash based metalhead!
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