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""Inviolate" is an extraordinary album by an extraordinary musician. A great Steve Vai."
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5/5
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Ten years... It took Steve Vai ten years to finally offer us his tenth album, "Inviolate". Should we (for once) thank the pandemic? Not only in his case, because even if it forced him, like many artists, to take refuge in his creativity, it is also the level of requirement of Steve that is responsible for this long wait. So much so that after several listenings of this fabulous "Inviolate", the only really important question is: is Steve Vai really human?
If the hardest thing for an artist is to keep on surprising the listener, for a guitarist, it's almost an impossible mission, especially after more than 40 years of career and especially by making the choice to produce an entirely instrumental album without any vocal part, which is unheard of in the American's discography. But impossible is not Steve Vai, who even allows himself to invent a new playing technique, the joint shifting (a very complex way to mix bends on several strings and fretted notes), to put it at the service of an incredible track of inventiveness, 'Candle Power'.
This is the secret of "Inviolate": Pieces all different and all composed with the fixed idea to marry originality and melody. This melodic research is the purpose of all the album and only a passionate of musical theory as Steve Vai is able to make accessible such harmonically complex pieces, as well in the progressions of chords as in the changes of tonalities and scales inside the same title ('Little Pretty', 'Zeus In Chains').
With this album, Steve Vai pushes all the limits. Those of his musicality first of all with pieces of a crazy class which use the dissonances as bases of the melodic research ('Avalancha', 'Zeus In Chains'). Those of his exceptional guitar touch then, in particular on the subtle 'Greenish Blues' with its Dantesque solo and its winks to 'For The Love Of God'. The ones of his technique again with 'Knappsack', the video of which became viral during the pandemic because Steve, then operated on his right shoulder, played this piece only with his left hand. And finally, this genius of the neck also pushes the limits of lutherie...
Indeed, one of the attractions of this new album is the famous Hydra, a guitar created by Ibanez on Steve's specifications. Or more exactly a monster with which he composed 'Teeth Of The Hydra', the opening track of "Inviolate". With its three necks (a 12-string fretless neck, a 7-string neck and a fretless bass neck under the E and A strings), its 13 through harp strings and its futuristic body full of technology, this instrument is as big as its designer.
For the record, Steve Vai designed the Hydra after watching "Mad Max: Fury Road". The whole approach of music by Steve Vai is in this anecdote. "Inviolate" is an eccentric, inventive and hyper thoughtful album. An album in the image of its author, who is indeed the only living musician who can claim Frank Zappa's heritage. - Official website
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TRACK LISTING:
01. Teeth Of The Hydra
02. Zeus In Chains
 03. Little Pretty
04. Candle Power
05. Apollo In Color
06. Avalancha
07. Greenish Blues
08. Knappsack
09. Sandman Cloud Mist
LINEUP:
Dave Weiner: Guitares
Jeremy Colson: Batterie
Philip Bynoe: Basse
Steve Vai: Guitares
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(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
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(3) COMMENT(S)
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@TOWNSEND LE DEVIN : non, l'erreur c'est de penser que ton avis est supérieur à autrui. Tu trouves le disque "alambiqué" alors qu'il n'y a que de la complexité harmonique. Et il n'y a certainement rien de métal prog dans ce disque non plus. Et ta référence à Passion & Warfare me laisse perplexe. J'ai écouté ce disque plus que n'importe quel autre disque et je cherche encore où tu as entendu ça.
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Franchement, je suis pas un grand fan de technique mais cette guitare Hydra et son utilisation par Steve Vai, c'est juste bluffant. 
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J'ai un problème avec Steve Vai : il est, à mon sens,ce qui se fait de mieux dans le genre, mais reste à savoir quel genre ? Et c'est là toute la complexité de Steve : voilà un guitariste qui survole tellement son sujet ( donnez lui une guitare et il arrivera à en sortir à peu près n'importe quoi, avec une main,un doigt dans n'importe quelle situation !!) que finalement il n'est pas toujours aisé de le suivre.. je m'explique : j'écoute Steve depuis 1985 et si à l'époque de Passion & Warfare l'essentiel de l'œuvre reposait sur une base métal, depuis notre Guitar hero a délaissé les sentiers ( battus) du Rock dur pour s'aventurer loin dans le Jazz fusion et autres déclinaisons inconnues... pour apprécier l'œuvre de Steve Vai,il faut totalement faire abstraction de sa "culture métal" et accepter d'être systématiquement désorienté, dans la forme et dans le son... donc exercice difficile pour une oreille inattentive ou inexpérimentée.. d'aucun diraient" c'est du brutal" non pas au niveau de la distorsion mais de la structure... à mon sens, à écouter avec modération et avec parcimonie ( ou avec n'importe qui d'autre !)si on veut éviter l'indigestion...
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READERS
3/5 (3 view(s))
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STAFF:
3.8/5 (6 view(s))
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IN RELATION WITH STEVE VAI
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OTHER REVIEWS
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OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT STEVE VAI
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