John 5 (birth name John William Lowery) has an impressive CV in the history of Rock and Metal Music. After beginning in David Lee Roth’s solo band, he shifted to join forces with Marilyn Manson as a guitarist and soon thereafter, Rob Zombie’s band as well. In addition to all of this, he has starred in a huge amount of other people’s albums as a guest. That takes genuine talent. John 5 is in fact, so legendary that he even has multiple Fender Custom Shop Telecaster guitar models being sold as of the time of writing. In any case, warp back to 2012 when John 5 was busy issuing solo career material. Instead of just delivering a purely electric guitar fest, he opted to release this album with some more acoustic-based influences within it. He plays most of the instruments himself on this album, and this is one of his most highly regarded listens from his long and fruitful career. It was produced by John 5, Bob Marlette and Chris Baseford for the 60 Cycle Hum/Rocket Science Ventures label, released on May 8, 2012. Let’s jump back in time and take a listen to this talented man, and we shall hear where it goes.

Welcome To Violence begins with a fade-in of horror-sounding guitars and nursery rhyme-styled chanting, before this launches into a very good set of Metal guitars and pounding drums. Nonetheless, in its own way, this does sound very impressive and incredibly good. John 5 certainly sounds like a great Metalhead shredder on this instrumental tune, and he delivers where it counts. The musicianship and playing on this track are absolutely incredible, and it sounds like John 5 was able to forge his own path in the world of music in his own way. The shredding on guitars sounds absolutely fantastic throughout, and the music throughout is also absolutely killer to listen to. In the second half, this calms down somewhat with a more melodic Metal-based section to boot. A really intense and great listening experience, this has some awesome descending runs, before launching into a really chaotic-sounding guitar solo section. Absolutely wonderful to hear, this is shredtastic Metal Music that you can enjoy if you feel angry at the world. A really awesome listen from start to finish. It concludes with a quirky sample, followed by sustained chords in the outro. Excellent.

Beat It is, of course, a Michael Jackson cover. It sounds much more heavy and powerful than the original and sounds very cheesy at the start. No vocals here, just a fresh approach to a classic hit song that is wicked and cool throughout. It sounds 10 times better than what Michael Jackson and Eddie Van Halen cooked up in the first place back in the early 1980s. A tremendously powerful and fun effort to listen to, this sounds really awesome and fun to listen to. John 5 plays some fantastic guitars throughout, playing multiple overdubs of the melodies and vocal lines on guitar. Extremely cool and top to listen to, this sounds like Beat It on hard drugs. Which it likely was. The guitar solo sounds fantastic and evokes the spirit of the original Eddie Van Halen guitar solo on the classic tune from way back. John 5 sounds impressive and shreds his way through it all. Very, very impressive. Worth hearing. A fantastic instrumental cover of the classic Michael Jackson tune.

Asland Bump begins with some deep, downtuned and launches into an interesting acoustic guitar-driven piece of music. It has some sweet and excellent slide guitars throughout, just sounding really fresh and deep throughout. A different listening experience to hear, this has a definite fingerpicked glory, complete with handclaps galore. Is this a lost instrumental album that is a genuinely good listen? It likely is. Some Mandolin and other fresh and clear sounds are present in this tune, and this comes nicely alive. There is a very brief pause in the midsection, followed by some further guitars and Mandolin being played. Amazing to listen to, and this sounds like something many music fans can dig. All in all, an awesome listen for a three-minute-long piece of craft. Nicely played and performed, reminiscent of Deep Southern USA Blues. Superb.

Killafornia begins with some dark electronics and sounds really excellent. Soon enough, crashing drums and other sounds enter, followed by crunchy Metal guitars to boot. John 5 shreds away very nicely on this tune, and he sounds absolutely amazing throughout. A powerful, heavy and punchy tune that is definitely worth listening to and hearing, this does have some unique sounds behind it all. Catchy and interesting shred guitar work meets some interesting musical textures on this tune, for all fans of Metal and John 5 to hear. This is definitely something that can be appreciated. All in all, this is very wonderful. In the second half is a very catchy breakdown that sounds absolutely wonderful and easy to appreciate. A cool tune that is worth listening to and hearing. This has a breakdown with clean guitars in the second half before pounding drums launch the piece back into action. Awesome beyond words, this sounds extremely good. Worth listening to, all the way.

The Castle begins with some strange, eastern sounds before launching into an acoustic guitar fingerpicked piece of music. This does sound extremely good for what it is and changes tempo and pace to full throttle at the drop of a hat. An absolutely sweet and passionate musical listening experience, this sounds highly impressive. A great mixture of playing and slapping percussion on the acoustic guitar itself, this three-minute-long gem is hugely memorable throughout. It just sounds really amazing to listen to and will take you to other places. A really great tune to listen to, the percussive slaps and guitar harmonics towards the end sound ridiculously good. Very nice music, with a bunch of melodic twists and turns that you will never forget. Fantastic.

The Hill Of The Seven Jackals launches right into it, with pounding and crashing drums, alongside some interesting guitars and electronic textures to match. This sounds really fantastic and awesome, and just sounds absolutely interesting and wonderfully melodic. Sure, these are all instrumental pieces but they definitely kick the proverbial throughout. John 5 is the master of creative melodies and craftsmanship, and he definitely delivers on this solo album. Super cool and headbanging inducing, this is a winner. The guitars scream, wail and utilise a huge amount of unique musical tricks throughout. A really cool and awesome listen, this is a great combination of Shred and Heavy Thrash Metal that will get your ears listening to it all. Great stuff throughout, John 5 does a wonderful job on this song. Absolutely awesome to hear, and something very impressive to listen to as well. It ends with some electronic sounds and editing that sound great.

Noche Acosador is a three-minute-long piece with some interesting forward and backward acoustic guitars, which sounds absolutely sweet and memorable. It quickly launches into a percussive and melodic acoustic guitar stomp fest, which sounds really very impressive. This is no doubt one of the highlights of this superb solo album by John 5. It sounds sweet, uptempo and deep throughout, quite a combination. John 5 shreds nicely throughout this tune, both on acoustic guitar and Mandolin. A really awesome and great listening experience, this is definitely worth hearing. If you need to spend three minutes of your listening time wisely right now, look no further. John 5 shows his impressive roots musically and his unique skills and talent throughout. It closes with some neat acoustic arpeggio guitar playing. Awesome.

The Lust Killer begins with some dark and moody electronic textures and launches into some extremely powerful and different electric guitars and other warped sounds throughout. Shredding like an absolute maniac, John 5 goes back into full-on Metal mode, and he shows the world what he has got. A really awesome, driven and powerful tune that is underrated, like much of the rest of the album, this is a real winner of a listening experience. Fine, fun and fantastic, this is a nicely driven tune with some interesting and incredibly driven guitars that keep this one going. Awesome, in the best description of words. All in all, John 5 is a very good musician to listen to. His guitar playing and efforts are really top-notch and fantastic, just showing the world how to shred like a maniac in the 21st century. Very, very good to listen to. In the second half is a breakdown with liquid chorus affected guitar parts that sound incredibly sweet, before returning back to the action at hand. A very good tune to listen to, this sounds very cool. A great listening experience that is powerful. Catchy and interesting, with a slowed-down outro.

The Lie You Live begins with some kick drum beats and sounds that are a little eerie. Soon enough, creaking begins followed by acoustic guitar playing. Again, this is very awesome and quite dramatic as well. A very sweet and interesting tune to listen to, this music sounds very diverse, to say the least. A more acoustically driven song with some interesting guitar parts, including muted electric guitar, this continues the nature of this excellent instrumental album with style and grace. John 5 doesn’t sing on this album but puts all of his effort into his awesome guitars, both acoustic and electric on this song, and indeed the album. Very, very cool. Never failing to show his efforts and surprises throughout this album listen, this music is a joy to hear. Perfect for Metalheads who would like to hear a deeper variety of music and musicianship in an original way. This concludes with some rather eerie melodies and returns to the sounds of the intro. Nonetheless, very very good.

Creepy Crawler is the final track on this album. It begins with backwards sounds and launches into more acoustic guitar playing. A different-sounding listening experience, this sounds absolutely marvellous and magical, in its own way. John 5 plays some rather deep and emotional dual-tracked acoustic guitars throughout, and he sounds like he is expressing his deepest and most heartfelt human emotions in this set of instrumental songs. Really great and awesome to listen to, complete with the backwards sounds continuing throughout this song. The music throughout here is very sweet to listen to. John 5 is a master crafter of quite touching music to listen to on this album release, even if there are no vocals throughout. Regardless, a fresh, powerful and unique piece of music to conclude this album with. In the second half are some synchronised acoustic guitars and melodies that are honestly, quite moving. John 5 deserves to be heard by more people out there, and he does the world of music a great justice. Totally worth your time and ears. This wraps up with strummed guitars and parts, before concluding with a bittersweet melodic acoustic guitar part.

This is a very good album, one which has been frequently overlooked in the history of music. It is a great instrumental album that mixes Metal, Shred and acoustic guitar playing into an interesting and diverse fluidity of music. If this album suffers from a slight flaw, it is that some tracks are musically less quality than others. Even so, this does not mean any of the tracks are outright bad or skippable, it is just a slight flaw of the whole listening experience. Should you listen to this album? Give it a try, if you want to hear an excellent mixture of acoustic guitar playing and electric guitar shred. People who dislike Metal based music may not enjoy this release, however.

Very, very good shredtastic music.

8/10