Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
There are beasts of albums and then there are monsters, the former tantalising, the stuff of remembrances and memories of where you were when you first pinned back your ears and let the explosion of noise take you down a large rabbit hole with no earthly way back. The latter, the substance that makes the universe tick, the material in which the initial tremor which meets the indestructible fiery blast coming the other way, the atoms that come between them splitting and forcing the issue outwards; this is the realisation that you are in the presence of beauty and greatness.
Joe Satriani knows how to deliver an album, he just has this innate feeling of exactly where to place that subtle note which will drive the fans wild and the force of a million stars looking down and wondering just where the cosmic dance is coming from. In Shockwave Supernova, the dance is not just real and comes out of the speakers as if it was being followed by the after fire of a 41 gun salute, it takes the listener to the edge of their own personal volcano and asks them to wait whilst the furnace beneath them gets ready to blow.
The initial explosion of guitar, the knowing glance you give anyone in your vicinity as you try to warn them to buckle up and prepare for the drive of their life soon surges and doesn’t relinquish its hold until the very final note has been squeezed out and allowed to evaporate in its own heat.
Life is a soundtrack after all; some require words to help the dialogue go along, to push the listener down a particular corner. For anybody choosing Shockwave Supernova, the personal film soundtrack may be one in which has no speech or raucous lyric guiding the listener but it is far from a silent film. It is the power of a throbbing sun pulsating, alive with colour which dominates the images in the listener’s mind and it is spectacular.
Tracks such as Lost in Memory, the astonishing Cataclysmic, A Phase I’m Going Through, Race Across The Stars and the twin aspects of Shockwave Supernova and Goodbye Supernova make the entire album one of relentless enthusiasm that cannot be denied its rightful place in amongst the finest of all instrumental albums.
Shockwave Supernova ranks so highly because it is not afraid to be unleashed onto the public’s dreams of what good music should be like. It is fearless and heroic and becomes at the end the album you always wanted to accompany you on your travels, for who can resist the blast of eternity?
Joe Satriani’s new album Shockwave Supernova is released by Sony Music/Legacy on Friday July 24th.
His 9-date U.K. tour with special guest Dan Patlansky kicks off at the O2 Manchester Apollo on November 1st. Tickets: www.ticketline.co.uk/joe-satriani.
Ian D. Hall