Out Now
Words by Jimmy Glinster
I’ve always struggled with the basis of my interest in Orianthi. Is it because she plays well, or because she’s not too shabby to look at? Well, either answer would be correct, but the real question is who wears their PRS better, Orianthi or I?
Anyway, after a short intro track titled Illuminate (Part 1), Light It Up wails straight in with a very rocking guitar riff that’ll instantly get your foot tapping and your head nodding.
Orianthi’s clean, crisp vocals drag me into the verse and keep me engaged through a chorus repeating the track title. And then the solo, there’s no doubt that this girl can play!
Next up is Fire Together, which opens with some slow-picked clean guitar. Orianthi again draws me in with that ever-so-sexy vocal tone, and then bam, the song starts to rock away. The song sway’s in and out between clean verses and rocking choruses. It’s more pop than rock, but it still rocks!
I’ve been asked this before, Where Did Your Heart Go? Well, in this exact moment it’s wrapped up again in that sweet vocal tone. This is a slow burner, and probably why it was released as a single back in July. So, you’ve probably already heard it, and on that note I’ll move on!
The intro to Burning is interesting to say the least. It almost sounds like some kind of weird psychedelic techno trance track due to the fuzzed-out bass tone and sampled percussion. It reminds me of something from the 90s, but I can’t put my finger on it. I was about to say that there is just not enough guitar in this track for my liking until she rips into a solo mid-track. That’ll do me!
Red Light instantly rocks and then kicks back a notch for the verses. That doesn’t last long, though, and it quickly hits its legs again in the pre-chorus. The actual chorus steps back again, but luckily enough the opening riff keeps cycling back through to rock your socks off. And here comes the solo … Ooft! Pretty big song in the end as the chorus becomes anthemic.
Void takes me back to that weird techno trance vibe again with the fuzzed-out bassline and thumping gated drums. This one reminds me of something by Bjork, which might have been what I was hearing in the earlier track Burning. Not really my thing, but again the guitar works saves it when it pokes its head out!
It’s ballad time, acoustic ballad time. And that’s pretty much the story for Living Is Like Dying Without You.
With a name like Witches and the Devil, I expected this next track to be dark. And low and behold it is. Well, as dark as you could imagine Orianthi being. This might just be her jumping on the doom and sludge bandwagon like every other joker these days. Interesting, and definitely not bad. I actually like it!
Getting to Me got to me, and I’ve found myself rocking along in my own little world. It’s probably my favourite track so far. The old save the best ‘til last chestnut. Well, not quite, there is actually an outro track called Illuminate (Part 2), which is a lot like Part 1. This time around though, we get a lot more guitar, including some rather impressive solos. Who’d have thunk it?
Oh, and there is also an acoustic version of Where Did Your Heart Go, which I’m not sure I needed, but I listened anyway.
Not necessarily an album for the average heavy listener, but a great rock album, nonetheless. Oh, and by the way, the album is called Eye Candy, I mean Rock Candy, yeah Rock Candy!
