John 5 - Gold Told Me To
He maybe best known as Rob Zombie's guitarist, but John 5 is back with his sixth solo album God Told Me To.
God Told Me To is not what I have come to expect from John 5's solo work, but it sounds fantastic, and is a new lease of life on his solo material. It is interesting, accessible and is home to some amazing shredding. God Told Me To proves John 5 to be a fantastic guitarist to say the very least.
Welcome To Violence kicks things off with style, it's brutal but refreshing, the perfect opening track. The riffing and shredding on Welcome To Violence is frantic, I'm surprised that John 5 didn't completely wear his fingers off recording that number alone.
The second track is one of my favourites on the album; a fantastic instrumental cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. The song sounds amazing, instantly recognisable but has an original twist. What Michael Jackson is in the world of dance is parallel to what John 5 is to the guitar world - simply sublime.
The second half of the album sees things slow down a bit, Noche Acosador is a beautiful track which sounds like an authentic flamenco number and is a completely new sound for John 5. It sounds like he has been playing that style of music all his life, and not like he just studied the techniques for this album.
God Told Me To is amazingly performed and produced, despite it being different to his previous solo work and his work with Rob Zombie, I believe John 5's fans will love it. If ten brilliant tracks were not enough, the album also comes complete with a DVD showing John 5's tour life Rob Zombie and some fantastic live footage.