I don’t know exactly when it happened. I think it was sometime in the early
1980’s when some nameless wizard of the guitar (possibly Steve Vai) ran
afoul of an evil witch. I’m not sure exactly what happened to cause the
witch to cast an evil spell on every wizard of guitar who should follow the
nameless one (again, possibly Steve Vai), but my knowledge of witches tells
me they are easy to run afoul of. Maybe he (Steve Vai anyone?) had a great
grandfather who was instrumental in the Salem Witch Trials, I am just
guessing though as I have no tangible proof. Anyway, the curse, as it was
told to me, is that though the wizard of guitar will be extraordinarily
talented, he will never be able to write a song with lyrics that don’t suck
as hard as a 8th grade field trip to a vacuum cleaner
manufacturing factory. This curse has proven over the years to be more
powerful than the smell at the monkey house of your local zoo and has,
judging by the lack of commercially popular shredding guitar players, only
gotten more powerful. Enter Bumblefoot.
Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal has seemingly pulled the sacred guitar from the stone
and slayed the evil witch who cursed all shredding guitar players
everywhere. With his album Abnormal, Bumblefoot achieves what so
many amazing guitarists have tried to do before in releasing a great album
with lyrical hooks that make the listener feel fish-like and powerless to
resist the bait dangling in front of them. This album starts out of the gate
like a race horse with a rocket strapped to its back. The opening song
“Abnormal” comes across as a fun Punk rock gem with an opening guitar riff
that feels like fingertips on your spine until it changes and grabs your
spine and tries to rip it out. “Glad to be Here” is a cross between a Polka
and Ska with lyrics that are just funny as hell and prove the point that the
curse is broken.
I couldn’t be more blown away by “Guitars Still Suck” if Bumblefoot came to
my house and strapped me with C4 and then waved goodbye with a pleasant yet
foreboding smile. It sounds like what you would get if you put Bumblefoot in
a hillbilly shack with a Bluegrass band, moonshine still, and a small yet
adequate tape recorder. The album powers through a wide range of styles
which all seem to blend nicely together reminding us that Bumblefoot is
clearly capable of nearly anything. Remember also that he has somehow been
in Guns-n-Roses for 4 years now so far avoiding the trend to be eaten alive
by the G-n-R monster that feeds on musicians not named Axl. I wish
Abnormal
was more of a normal amongst the amazingly talented guitar playing
ground. It may take a while for the rest of the wizards of guitar to catch
up to Bumblefoot but at least we have something to listen to while we wait.
Hot Tracks-Abnormal, Simple Days, Glad to be Here
Doug Morrissey- Muzikreviews.com Staff
May 24, 2010
©muzikreviews.com
For Questions Or Comments About This Review Send An Email To
info@muzikreviews.com
