As the eponymous outfit of American shredhead Chris Impellitteri, Impellitteri has wielded the heavy metal chorus call and neoclassical solo response for near forty years. Though presenting a style that rollicks about Malmsteen-like fretboard gymnastics in a 80s rockin’ manner in the ballpark of the flamboyant Racer X or rough ‘n’ riffy Chastain, Impellitteri has maintained a workmanlike vigor in their long-standing songcraft. Virtuosity in runs and power chord progressions call the shots in this well-attended line of fire-fingered, efficient attacks. And though times are different than when Rob Rock (of his own eponymous works and ex-Axel Rudi Pell), first joined the Impellitteri crew, his continued presence alongside the nimble band leader aims to find that same consistency with this newest War Machine.
Understandably, War Machine veers little from the Impellitteri way. Though the American stalwarts materialized in 1988 as an affair similar to the Rainbow-on-shred names popular of the time, debut Stand in Line even featuring ex-Rainbow, ex-Alcatrazz vocalist Graham Bonnet, Impelliterri grew to thrive less on AOR shakin’ and more on power metal adjacent triumph on successive releases.1 And with the introduction of Rock on mic, Ken Mary (Fifth Angel, ex-Chastain) on kit, and Ed Roth (Driver) on keys, 90s peaks Screaming Symphony and Eye of the Hurricane offered a thrilling and overloaded version of a sound that already possessed much flexing force. Though low on variation, Impellitteri’s style through to War Machine remains classic and guitar-forward, a combo that to lovers of the olde and solo-wild will rarely be displeasing.
Despite the similar nature of everything, both to past Impellitteri works and within its own walls, War Machine comes stacked with bombastic guitar work against ridiculous themes. Reaching for a standard-issue bag of neoclassical tricks, along with spacey phasers that give whiffs of Van Halen party energy (“Superkingdom,” “Just Another Day”), Impellitteri’s licks endure as swift and truly heavy metal. And relying on the intensity of a post-Painkiller world, tracks like “Hell on Earth” and “Light It Up” find an extra rhythmic propulsion that keeps the horns raised high against double-kick assaults.2 Testament to Rock’s not-ageless but studied bravado, his performance, while not striking the highest highs of his younger days, lives in full commitment against campy themes of AI takeover (“Superkingdom”) and getting rowdy in the mosh pit (“War Machine,” “Light It Up”). Adding that all-too-important warmth and earnestness to the smoky stage romp that Impellitteri embodies, Rock persists as a link vital to keeping the War Machine on course.
When Impellitteri fires on all the cylinders still at their disposal, War Machine lives up to its name. But that makes up only about half of its forty-three-minute runtime. At this point in the Impellitteri catalog, the line between filler and iterated event runs thinner than the cutting tone Mr. Impellitteri loves so to highlight his lightning-speed scale laps. In that sense, it shouldn’t matter that “War Machine” is another “Turn of the Century” (Crunch, 2000) shred-laced groove that sets a marching tone, nor should it be a bother that “Beware the Hunter” utilizes one of the most common riff patterns that Impellitteri has ever put to tape. The War Machine versions of these tested sounds should land on their own merit—at cranking speeds (“Wrath Child,” “Light It Up”) and proudest arpeggio (“Superkingdom,” “Just Another Day”) they do, and Impellitteri shows they have ideas left in the tank. But when all eleven tracks don’t show this same fervor at this stage of their career, Impellitteri needs to spend a little more time in curation than creation.
If a younger Dolph had written this review, some of War Machine’s issues of repetition may not have stuck out in as flagrant a stumbling manner. However, Impellitteri, since first entering the fold of cetaceous enjoyment in the mid-00s, has released album after album of lowering differentiation with infrequent flashes of a former shining self. When the past was more recent, less littered by minds who wanted the same 11-dialed Marshall and scalloped Strat in the limelight, Impellitteri’s recursive ideas were more forgivable. But at our current juncture in time, growing every year closer to four decades of Impellitteri occupation, the War Machine must stand against those who preceded and inspired its existence, those who grew shoulder-to-shoulder in shred, and those who have raised themselves on the entirety of that history. And that’s all more fight than War Machine gives.
Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Frontiers Music
Websites: impellitteri.net | instagram.com/chrisimpellitteriofficial
Releases Worldwide: November 8th, 2024
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