Steve Vai’s Passion & Warfare turned 25 years old this past July, and the guitar has never been the same. Part hard rock, part psychedelia filtered through 80s neon, part Looney Toons soundtrack, part Zappa, Passion & Warfare found Vai breaking out on his own with an incredible level of focus and determination. Read More …
David Coverdale and his extremely capable Whitesnake collective dish up a dirty, bluesy follow-up to the more metallic Good To Be Bad in the form of Forevermore. If Good To Be Bad was a naughties update of some of the louder moments of the band’s 1987 album, Forevermore is what would happen if the Whitensake sound of the early 80s was updated in 2011. It’s more aggressive, more powerful and usually a lot faster than, say, an album like Lovehunter, but retains much of the blues-based melody, groove, phrasing and bluster (with an occasional dose of Slip Of The Tongue-era glitz). Whereas Good To Be Bad would make a great work-out album, Forevermore is driving music. Party music. Sex music.
The album hits hard from the beginning with “Steal Your Heart Away,” which drives forward with a heavy blues groove, augmented by subtle organ and harmonica. It’s the kind of track Coverdale-Page would have done really well if they’d gone for a louder production style. Meanwhile the solo section in “All Out Of Luck” represents the closest Whitesnake has come to the Slip Of The Tongue sound since the days when Steve Vai was spinning his Ibanez Universe around his neck. The rest of the song rocks with a dirty single coil guitar tone.