Shredder extraordinaire and Squier signature artist John 5 is set to unleash sixth album The Art of Malice on May 11.
Fans know to expect an eclectic and abundant display of precision virtuosity from John 5, but The Art of Malice bears out his assertion that his latest “is a completely different vibe than my other albums.” Perhaps shred-site Hardrock Heaven put it best when it said that John 5’s exhilarating approach on the album “works wonders, as he lets the proceedings unfold on a grander scale, letting in more air and light and starting to think in bigger, bolder compositional ideas.”
We’ll say. The Art of Malice has its share of heavy riffing slathered with dazzlingly deft and gymnastically melodic soloing, exemplified by “The Nightmare Unravels,” “Ill Will or Spite,” “Wayne County Killer” and “The S. Lot.” Also in this category would be “Ya Dig,” a driving onslaught in which 5 is abetted by virtuoso bassist Billy Sheehan, and “Portrayed as Unremorseful,” in which he launches into a playful and enjoyably affectionate nod to Jimmy Page midway through.
But such heaviness is only about half the story here, because Malice also abounds with that twisted Steve-Morse-meets-George-Romero thing that John 5 specializes in and apparently has the monopoly on—nobody else in rock does it. It’s an oddball Telecaster-bred cross between Hee Haw and Night of the Living Dead that’s positively mesmerizing to listen to and a style in which 5 clearly enjoys himself no end. It can be heard on the title track, with a delicate Spanish classicism that gives way to light-speed bluegrass picking; on the bright chugging country of “J.W.” and on “Steel Guitar Rag,” which morphs from a single gently undulating guitar to a marvelously foot-tapping full-band Chet-on-speed romp.
Elsewhere on Malice, John 5 pours soaring electric melodies over a languid acoustic foundation on “Can I Live Again,” indulges in an unexpected cover of Ace Frehley’s “Fractured Mirror” that’s more about melody than chops, and closes the album with “The Last Page Turned,” a beautiful acoustic number that lies somewhere between Page in “Bron-Yr-Aur” mode and Milwaukee acoustic wizard Willy Porter.
As on previous solo efforts such as Vertigo (2004), Songs for Sanity (2005), The Devil Knows My Name (2007) and Requiem (2008), John 5 plays most of the instruments himself (2009’s Remixploitation was a remix album), although he is joined on Malice by drummer Tommy Clufetos.
