Not Of This Earth

Professor Satchafunklius and the Musterion of Rock (surely a candidate for the best/worst title of the year so far) is the 12th studio album from the instrumental guitar legend.

What's refreshing about Satch's work is his capacity for restraint. His ability to race along the fretboard at breakneck speed is well documented but whilst other guitarists such as Michael Angelo Batio might be content by simply packing as many notes into 10 seconds as they can, Joe's always shied away from this in favour of almost singable verse and chorus combinations and songs with a strong sense of feeling and emotion. Far too often with instrumental guitarists, there's a tendency to go nuts with the displays of technical skill and forget that this is actually supposed to be, you know, a song.

PSATMOR doesn't break any new ground for Satch, most of the album is strictly rock fair, which can either be a good or a bad thing depending on how you view his previous work. He flirted with electronica and synth on Engines of Creation to mixed success, but it's nice to see Joe actually returning to what he does best – catchy melodies, hummable tunes and blistering guitar solos.

Opener Musterion sounds like it could have come from a much earlier era – it wouldn't be out of place on 1985's Not of this Earth. Whether it's funk (Professor Satchafunklus), blues (Come on Baby) or the Spanish flavoured Andalusia, this album showcases Satriani's versatility but whilst all of them are technically superb tracks in their own right, they don't quite capture emotions in quite the same way as in his earlier work.

Something that's always struck me about Satriani is his ability to convey emotions through music with just a title to guide you in the right direction. Previous great staples like Friends, Summer Song or Motorcycle Driver from The Extremist or Day at the Beach from Flying in a Blue Dream really do a great job of creating vivid imagery with the listener.