It would be easy to look at the heavily airbrushed cover of her latest album, or the video for songs such as “Impulsive”, and just think of Orianthi as another marketing creation. But one must remember that she has been asked to work with many highly rated guitarists such as Steve Vai, Carlos Santana, and Richie Sambora, while Michael Jackson wanted her as part of his This Is It band. She is a multi-million selling artist in her own right, while her song “According To You” has been tagged more than 80 million times on Tiktok. This is her first album for seven years, and here she provides guitars, vocals, programming, while she is joined by Evan Frederiksen (drums, bass) and producer Marti Frederiksen (percussion, programming).
The real issue with the album is a combination of lack of enough powerful songs, way too much reliance on modern production, and programmed drums. When she breaks away from those themes, she is much more powerful and real, and the use of picking on “Crawl Out Of The Dark” is immense. Here she foregoes shreds and showy technique to instead concentrate on the musical notes and allows herself to pour power and emotion into the vocals, while the addition of a cello is inspired. It is when she allows herself to just play and really sit inside the music that we hear the best, so when opener “Contagion” gets going, it really rocks, yet the lengthy introduction does it no favours whatsoever. “Rescue Me” is another where she keeps it basic and produces a bluesy number which is an absolute delight, showcasing her vocals, yet the following song, “Blow”, is another experiment into combining electronica in a way that just does not work.
She is a much in-demand live musician, and toured with Alice Cooper for three years, yet one wonders if all the work for others means she is no longer sure of her own identity. I would just like to hear her go into the studio with a proper band, no keyboards or trickery, as I am sure the album which would come out of that would certainly be worth hearing. This is still a good album overall, with excellent songs in places, but still the feeling this is an opportunity missed.
Rating: 7/10
