Despite being one of the premiere shredders of the 80s, George Lynch is not one to rest on his laurels. He releases new music at such a rapid rate that it’s hard to keep track. Since this site’s inception (a little over a year and a half ago) alone, he’s released three albums: The sole self titled album from Dirty Shirley (a project with singer Dino Jelusić), a covers album with old Dokken bandmate Jeff Pilson, and the appropriately titled second album from The End Machine, Phase2. Well that number is now four, thanks to the release of Lynch’s debut instrumental solo album, Seamless.
Pure solo releases from Lynch are far and few in between. It’s been six years since his last solo outing, Shadow Train, and even that was more of a band/special guest centric effort. In fact, the same can be said for all of Lynch’s solo albums, going back to his excellent debut, Sacred Groove (1993). After 40 years of unleashing wicked riffs and high velocity solos for virtuoso singer after virtuoso singer, it was high time for Lynch to scale it back and let his axe do the talking.
Unlike most instrumental guitar records, Seamless‘s main focus is not how many solos can be fit into the space of a few minutes, but rather the songs themselves. Most of the tracks are crunchy, groove oriented hard rockers in the vein of Lynch’s KXM project with King’s X’s Dug Pinnick and Korn’s Ray Luzier. After hearing cuts like “Cola”, “Ithink”, and “Blue Light Effect”, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was indeed listening to what was supposed to be the next KXM record, minus the vocal tracks. Joining Lynch on this effort are bassist Eric Loiselle and drummer Jimmy D’Anda. Both do an excellent job holding down the rhythm alongside Lynch’s equally rhythmic riffs.
When Lynch shifts gears towards soloing, it isn’t the ultra metallic shredding of the Dokken days. He likely avoided going this route so not to cast Seamless as “just another” shred album. Instead, he showcases sides of his playing that I’m not sure have ever been heard before. “Death by a Thousand Licks”, and “Sharks with Laser Beams” border on the anxiety inducing avant-garde territory inhabited by Buckethead and Paul Gilbert. “Octavia” is a lengthy prog suite with acoustic guitars, lush strings, and shades of jazz. Even blues is explored on the closing track, “The Weight”, no relation to The Band song of the same name.
If George Lynch’s mission was to make a well rounded, musically intriguing shred album, then mission accomplished. I only hope that this release isn’t a one off. The band is too damn hot and Lynch’s licks are tastier than ever! I don’t care how wrong that last sentence sounded. I’m sticking with it.
6 out of 10
Label: Rat Pak Records
Genre: Progressive Rock
For fans of: KXM, Buckethead, Paul Gilbert