...And if this wasn't enuff, Bonutto's just wandered back from the States brandishing a
copy of an EP by some bloke called Chris Impellitteri, acclaiming him as "fairly hot stuff"
and by the Bishop's standards that's akin to saying it's an album of mega over-the-top
proportions! A single spin on the office turntable confirms this, and so it's with great
pleasure that Mr. Impellitteri (hands up those who thought Yngwie was hard enough to
pronounce!) is included in this auspicious round-up.
Unlike Vinnie Moore, about whom we know quite a lot, Chris Impellitteri
(through no fault of his own, I suspect) appears to be a newcomer to the guitar scene. He
is, I would say, faster than Malmsteen on the straights but on the bends? Well, I'm not so
sure...the puzzling thing is that he seems to have trouble maintaining fluidity over a
prolonged period. As we all know, speed soloing a la Yngwie can last anything up to an
amazing nine or ten seconds without interruption. Impellitteri, on the other hand, whilst
not able to match this sort of stamina, is definitely faster in the short term, using this ability
to massive effect on the four songs in this EP.
Volume and velocity swell to the point of explosion, putting the band (that's ex-
Driver vocalist Rob Rock and drummer Loni Silva--curiously no bassist is credited!) into
that epic pigeonhole occupied by the likes of Dio and Rainbow. Mind you, in amongst
this committed furore the band retain a coherence that buffs rather than bruises the raging
wide-angled emotion of songs such as 'Lost In The Rain', a fast, shaggy rocker.
On 'I'll Be Searching', a slow, ambient number, Rock's gruff vocals pave the way
for some utterly unruly guitar playing--Impellitteri jumps atop a riff similar to Styx's 'Blue
Collar Man', unleashing a series of precision guitar flurries faster than Vai or Malmsteen.
The climax of the song is just as enthralling: a guitar out of control, a man's fingers
pumping out notes you probably never imagined. A superb record.