{"id":300,"date":"2010-05-11T06:52:37","date_gmt":"2010-05-11T13:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/?p=300"},"modified":"2011-01-23T06:54:55","modified_gmt":"2011-01-23T13:54:55","slug":"hall-of-the-mountain-king-reviews-the-art-of-malice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/05\/11\/hall-of-the-mountain-king-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","title":{"rendered":"Hall of the Mountain King Reviews The Art of Malice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Review: John 5, “The Art of Malice”:<\/strong> http:\/\/www.mountainkingmusic.com\/2010\/05\/review-john-5-art-of-malice.html<\/a><\/p>\n

To be honest, I\u2019ve been over the guitar god shred instrumental album for a long time now, but in recent years, I\u2019ve become more and more impressed with the work of John 5 every time he pops up somewhere. That interest was enough to get me to give his new record \u201cThe Art of Malice\u201d a shot.<\/p>\n

Granted, there\u2019s a lot of showy shredding here, as on any instrumental guitar record, but by and large the songs here are actual songs, not just a conveyance for John 5 to pack as many notes as possible into. Like any good tune, the songs here follow progressions and have solid hooks, albeit musical ones rather than vocal ones.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Another thing that strikes me about this record is the great variety of moods and styles that clash here. There are rhythms and grooves on the record that just put a smile on your face, and there are reflective, melancholy moments. The genres represented pretty much run the gamut from old-fashioned down-home country to charging, bashing metal. Of course, what else would you expect from a guy that’s played for both Marilyn Manson and K.D. Lang?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Art of Malice\u201d rocks straight out of the box with the catchy \u201cThe Nightmare Unravels,\u201d which features the expected fast sweeping lead work. Then, the title track pulls in a little Spanish influence and the country twang from his Telecaster. It sounds a little like Roy Clark dabbling in Latin sounds. There\u2019s definitely influence of guitar virtuosos who came before, particularly Joe Satriani on the high energy \u201cIll Will or Spite\u201d and the crazy groove of \u201cYa Dig,\u201d which blends elements of blues rock and country in a driving, high-octane shuffle.<\/p>\n

There are plenty of those heavy rocking numbers here, including the big traditional metal riffing of \u201cWayne County Killer,\u201d a personal favorite of mine. But, despite the clich\u00e9 of the phrase, there really is something here for everyone. \u201cJ.W.\u201d delivers a rockabilly boogie. \u201cCan I Live Again\u201d begins with a dark southern rock feel, reminiscent of \u201cFloyd,\u201d which he wrote with Lynyrd Skynyrd, and then moves into some soaring movie soundtrack-ish leads. \u201cSteel Guitar Rag\u201d is pretty much what the title says, with some wild old school country picking at the end. \u201cPortrayed as Unremorseful\u201d brings funk rock into the picture. \u201cFractured Mirror\u201d is a trippy progressive number.<\/p>\n

Album closer \u201cThe Last Page Turned\u201d wows with an acoustic. It\u2019s particularly striking coming at the end of a record that\u2019s been all about shred, but John 5 proves with it that he\u2019s just as good without electricity.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost insane how quickly this record goes from crushingly heavy to groove to twang, yet somehow it all flows. \u201cThe Art of Malice\u201d proves John 5 to be as much a shredder as any of the guys that came out of the style\u2019s 1980s heyday, but also a bit of a mad scientist, stitching together seemingly incongruous elements into an imposing Frankenstein monster.<\/p>\n

Get “The Art of Malice.” <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s almost insane how quickly this record goes from crushingly heavy to groove to twang, yet somehow it all flows. \u201cThe Art of Malice\u201d proves John 5 to be as much a shredder as any of the guys that came out of the style\u2019s 1980s heyday, but also a bit of a mad scientist, stitching together seemingly incongruous elements into an imposing Frankenstein monster.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,621,20],"class_list":["post-300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-john-5","tag-review","tag-the-art-of-malice","tw-post-no-content"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1qFj4-4Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":310,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/07\/15\/life-music-media-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":0},"title":"Life Music Media reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"July 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Art of Malice is a dynamic record that peaks and troughs well throughout its 12 tracks. Just as you get comfy immersing yourself within the drama of slower tracks like \u2018Can I live Again\u2019 and the tension of \u2018Fractured Mirror\u2019, you\u2019re beaten over the head by thrashy outbursts and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":302,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/06\/10\/number-of-the-blog-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":1},"title":"Number of the Blog reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"June 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The album starts off with a blast with \u2018The Nightmare Unravels\u2019, as atmospheric guitar sounds give way to an explosive riff and lightning-fast soloing. This track truly exhibits what John 5 does best, pairing lead pyrotechnics with catchy melodies. \u2018The Art Of Malice\u2019 is a shorter track of bluegrass picking,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":304,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/04\/20\/backstageaxxess-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":2},"title":"BackstageAxxess reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"April 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The next track, \"J.W.\" has a Junior Brown-esque rockabilly feel to it. That rockabilly flavor comes back later on \"Steel Guitar Rag\" with hints of Stephen Foster's bluegrass classic 'Oh! Suzanna' at the beginning of the track. \"Wayne County Killer\" brings back the hard rockin' riffs and is followed up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":105,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/04\/30\/theywillrockyou-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":3},"title":"Theywillrockyou reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"April 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The guitar world is cluttered with players that can play a million notes a minute. John 5 established that he can hold his own with them a long time ago.","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":307,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/05\/15\/mind-over-metal-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":4},"title":"Mind Over Metal reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"May 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"ohn 5 is an artist determined to flourish in the music world. By continuously challenging himself, he has shared the stage with musicians as disparate as Marilyn Manson and k.d. lang. On The Art of Malice, his signature sound (by way of Fender Telecaster) becomes all the more recognizable.","rel":"","context":"In "Review"","block_context":{"text":"Review","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":246,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/05\/11\/guitargearheads-com-artists-spotlight-interview-with-john-5\/","url_meta":{"origin":300,"position":5},"title":"GuitarGearHeads.com Artists Spotlight Interview with John 5","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"May 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"With his goth\/horror make up, John 5, at first glance, would ordinarily be typecast as a heavy metal basher. His stints with Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie would do little to dispel this image, based on photos and videos. Upon experiencing an actual listening session, impeccable bluegrass lines played at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interview"","block_context":{"text":"Interview","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/interview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.guitargearheads.com\/uploads\/img4be9bd55dbe54.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/300\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}