{"id":310,"date":"2010-07-15T07:09:45","date_gmt":"2010-07-15T14:09:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/?p=310"},"modified":"2011-01-23T07:14:27","modified_gmt":"2011-01-23T14:14:27","slug":"life-music-media-reviews-the-art-of-malice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/07\/15\/life-music-media-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Music Media reviews The Art of Malice"},"content":{"rendered":"

John 5 \u201cThe Art of Malice\u201d CD Review: Ben Hosking<\/strong>: http:\/\/lifemusicmedia.com\/?p=10104<\/a><\/p>\n

While \u2018The Art of Malice\u2019 is an instrumental album; you probably don\u2019t need to be a guitarist to know who John 5 is. John 5 has played guitar for Marilyn Manson and is the current axeman in Rob Zombie\u2019sband. Rubbing shoulders with two of the freakiest dudes in modern rock\/metal surely goes some way to explaining John 5\u2019s compulsion to shave his eyebrows and apply the face paint.<\/p>\n

The Art of Malice is John 5\u2019s third solo effort and shows the country-infused chicken-pickin\u2019 shredder continuing to expand his chops and grow as a songwriter. Where \u2018Requiem\u2019 and Songs for Sanity\u00a0affirmed his place in the pantheon of interesting and intense guitar instrumentalists, \u2018The Art\u2026\u201d will go a long way to securing his position as an equally interesting songwriter as well.<\/p>\n

For newcomers to the crazy world of John 5, it\u2019d be all too easy to pass him off on the strength of his visual appearance. Don\u2019t judge a book by its cover. John 5 is well known within guitar circles for his different take on what shred is meant to be with skills like string bending behind the nut and his choice of the Fender Telecaster isn\u2019t exactly the norm\u2019 for creating killer licks.<\/p>\n

No, John 5 is not all about metal. He\u2019s not all about rock, shock or anything else. The Art of Malicecontains moments of countrified quirkiness like the hybrid-picked mayhem of \u2018JW\u2019 and the steel guitar meanderings of, well\u2026 \u2018Steel Guitar Rag\u2019. Country even finds its way into more conventional-sounding rock tunes like \u2018The Nightmare Unravels\u2019 through his use of hybrid picking \u2013 a style that when used correctly can greatly increase the number of notes you can play per minute.<\/p>\n

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 millions of notes in tracks like \u2018Portrayed as Unremorseful\u2019.<\/p>\n

John 5\u2019s new disc even offers some cool guest spots, like Billy Sheehan (Mr. Big, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, et al) playing bass on \u2018Ya Dig?\u2019 and Tommy Clufetos (Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Zombie, Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper) playing drums throughout.<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re new to John 5\u2019s idiosyncratic style or an existing fan, The Art of Malice is one you\u2019re going to want in your collection or on your playlist. In a world of \u2018same same\u2019 solo guitarists,John 5 stands out as an unrepentant individualist. He has more talent in his one eyebrow than most players have in their whole bodies. Try him out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 millions of notes in tracks like \u2018Portrayed as Unremorseful\u2019.<\/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-310","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\/p1qFj4-50","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":304,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/04\/20\/backstageaxxess-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":310,"position":0},"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":310,"position":1},"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":302,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/06\/10\/number-of-the-blog-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":310,"position":2},"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":307,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/05\/15\/mind-over-metal-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":310,"position":3},"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":300,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/05\/11\/hall-of-the-mountain-king-reviews-the-art-of-malice\/","url_meta":{"origin":310,"position":4},"title":"Hall of the Mountain King Reviews The Art of Malice","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"May 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":103,"url":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/2010\/04\/08\/john-5-video-teaser-for-%e2%80%9cthe-art-of-malice%e2%80%9d\/","url_meta":{"origin":310,"position":5},"title":"John 5 Video Teaser For \u201cThe Art Of Malice\u201d","author":"Dillon - Team John 5","date":"April 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The brand new teaser for The Art of Malice out May 11 2010","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","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=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/john-5.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}