Joe Satriani, inspired by the sudden death of Hendrix, picked up a guitar and decided he would become the next big thing. It worked out pretty well, as he is considered one of the highest selling instrumental guitarist of all-time. I, nevertheless, had no idea who he was and decided upon my random grabs to see what the hype was about. This albums most notable thing is the fact Satriani sued Coldplay for plagiarizing music from “If I Could Fly” for Viva La Vida. It was settled outside of court.

The album begins with “Gnaah”, which seems to be use a bit of onomatopoeia. Because the guitar keeps making the sound of the title track. I’ll give him that.

“Up in Flames” is a little boring for my taste. Does not grab me at all.

“Hands in the Air” has more originality and flare to it. A more enjoyable one. Experiments with distortion a bit as well.

“Lifestyle” actually includes some vocals. His voice isn’t bad actually. The song left a little more to be desired.

“Is There Love in Space” is actually really good, really draws you in immediately. It feels like the guitar itself is singing and that takes some talent.

Hearing “If I Could Fly” and also knowing the aforementioned Coldplay song, I am not sure I hear the similarities at all. I also do not find it as good as the last song although it appears it is the most known song from the album.

“The Souls of Distortion” actually upon start up made me immediately think of a similar distortion in a Bon Jovi song. The distortion however takes away from the song itself.

“Just Look Up” is a good instrumental but it is missing some sort of lyricism or something to drive the good instrumental home.

“I Like the Rain” is completely different in I feel like the lyricism draws you out of the instrumentals.

“Searching” is intriguing because the way it shifts really does give you the feeling of longing and searching, seeking something. I would say he chose effectively here.

The album closes with “Bamboo”, but I feel it would be better if Bamboo came before Searching.

Lyricism: 5/10 – This won’t heavily play into the score as there’s only two songs with any vocals or lyrics to them, the lyrics were simplistic and didn’t add to or take from the songs.

Music: 6/10 – He is a fantastic guitarist, just not sure my cup of tea on every track.

Overall: 6/10 – It is a solid album if you like strong guitar solos with some experimental work. Sometimes the guitar really seems like it is singing. That’s hard to do. – Michaela