Orianthi may be best known to many people as lead guitarist in the current lineup of Alice Cooper’s band, but this Australian musician is far more than just another guitarist. As well as being an incredibly talented guitarist who has worked with Michael Jackson, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and Alice Cooper, she also has a solo career where she not only plays guitar but also sings. Her latest solo album is ’Heaven in this hell’ and it could well be her best work yet. Actually forget that – after listening to the album a large number of times it’s clear this is definitely her best work yet.
For this, her third album she’s worked with former Eurythmics star Dave Stewart, who has produced the album as well as working with her to create the songs.
Brief comments on a few tracks..
’How do you sleep’ has a beautiful bluesy guitar solo opening the track – it really is superb, and this leads into a great bluesy ballad.
’Frozen’ is a heavier track with a guitar riff that reminds me of the Jimi Hendrix song ’Foxy lady’
’How does that feel’ is yet another great track. I particularly like the way that when Orianthi sings the line ”I’ve got a million fans” a crowd noise kicks in as the song picks up pace and power – it’s a really effective way to transition from the slower first half of the song to the heavier faster second half, and a trick I haven’t heard before.
This is an excellent album that in my opinion is a cut above the average solo album from a guitarist. The main reason why I say this is that Orianthi has avoided the common failing of many guuitarists who release their solo albums as instrumentals so vocals don’t disract from their guitar skills, whereas Orianthi sings and plays guitar and does brilliantly at both. The guitar playing still stands out as superb even though there are vocals, and Orianthi has a great voice so the vocals are good enough that bringing in a separate singer wouldn’t improve things.
An excellent album that’s highly recommended to fans or rock and blues as well as all guitarists.
’Heaven in this hell’ will be released on 11th March 2013 via Spinefarm records.
Track listing:
1. Heaven in this hell
2. You don’t want to know
3. Fire
4. If you think you know me
5. How do you sleep
6. Frozen
7. Rock
8. Another you
9. How does that feel
10. Filthy blues
11. If you were here with me
