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Spanish webzine La Estadea reviews God Told Me To

Read this stunning 9 out of 10 review of John 5’s forthcoming ‘God Told Me To’ from Spanish webzine La Estadea.

God Told Me To cover - album by John 5 - cover art by Rob ZombieRead this stunning 9 out of 10 review of John 5’s forthcoming ‘God Told Me To’ from Spanish webzine La Estadea. Thank you to Mike from the site for providing the translation. You can read the original Spanish review by clicking HERE

‘God told me to‘ is the sixth solitary studio album from the Rob Zombie and ex-Marilyn Manson guitar player, John William Lowery, AKA John 5. The first and remarkable impression, is the aggressive cover artwork (painted by Rob Zombie itself), where we can see John using the same kind of aesthetics as in his current band, Rob Zombie. This makes me wonder if this is a John 5 solo work, or a solo work from Rob Zombie’s guitar player. Anyway, marketing issues aside, we’ve got 10 tunes, that’s 40 minutes of instrumental songs, including a cover song.

I never doubted John 5‘s skills. Neither his career choices, nor his guitar playing techniques. With this new release, this point is crystal clear. His style is surgical, stubborn and yes, sometimes impulsive, but always remarkable. I will admit that his guitar sound, on certain moments, technique aside, can shrill a little bit. But looking on the bright side, it can be a distinctive personal trait. The next thing that caught my attention, is the importance given to the acoustic songs, as much or even more than the distorted guitars, and spread out evenly all over the track list, as John predicted months before the release date.

‘Gold told me to’ is a very addictive record, aggressive and full of emotions. But most of all, full of unique songs.

As soon as the record starts, ‘Welcome To Violence‘ makes an entrance like a missile in honor and tribute to Ministry. It has an insane riff over industrial landscapes and very fast solo parts. Perfect execution and awesome in every way. But next, we can easily get very shocked when we listen to Michael Jackson‘s cover ‘Beat it‘, which was released as a single for the 53 anniversary of the King of Pop. Extremely well performed, but really a nut breaker, after the first song. Considering that after that we get into the acoustic part with ‘Ashland Bump‘, I come to realize that probably the best thing to do, is to start to listen to the songs individually, instead of facing the cd as a whole.

Regarding the acoustic part, I only have nice words about John 5′s skills. With songs like ‘Ashland Bump‘, the country-styled ‘The castle‘, the mariachi-imbibed ‘Noche Acosador‘, or the emotive final combo of ‘The Lie You Live‘ and ‘Creepy Crawler‘, it is impossible not to surrender to his magnetism and essence. We have a great display of impressive open hand techniques, palm muting, cool percussion beats on the guitar body, and also a great ambient feeling.

Tracks like ‘The Hill of the Seven Jackals‘ sound more industrialized, like the first one, but with a huge epic touch on the solo part. ‘Killafornia‘ on the other hand, sounds more like a crossover between Quake‘s soundtrack and a 7Up ad. ‘The Lust Killer‘, brings up the 80′s teen horror movies roots to the next level of awesomeness.

Being the instrumental work of a solo guitar player, ‘God told me to‘ is a very addictive record, aggressive and full of emotions. But most of all, full of unique songs. With his refined skills, unique personality and great control over such different disciplines, I hope that John 5 will keep on working for a long time. Both as a solo artist and as part of a band. A beastly demon that knows full well what he’s doing.