Axe-fest albums can, notoriously, be just a bloated showcase for unrestrained widdling. But not so Vinnie Moore’s eighth solo album.
He makes each and every track a proper song, with a well-developed progression. So whether it’s the dirty throb of Mustang Shuffle, the ominous shades of The Dark Dream or the nostalgic phrasing of Looking Back, the emphasis is on joyful groove and sonic delight.
There’s even space for a cover ZZ Top’s La Grange, with Moore’s six strings doing an very good job of evoking Billy Gibbons’s salacious drawl. The top cut, though, must be the immense A Million Miles Gone, a multi-textured epic positively dripping emotion and bristling with technique. Awesome.
