Do you believe that the album I am reviewing right now is some kind of Gothic, Industrial, EBM or any other 'dark' musical genre? Well, you are completely wrong my friends. John 5 is a well known guitarist who has worked with various famous bands and artists. If you want something instrumental, yet heavy and groovy, this release is something that will ease your pain.

John 5 is an acclaimed guitarist whose biography includes names like MARILYN MANSON, BONE ANGEL, DAVID LEE ROTH, ROB ZOMBIE, ROB HALFORD and many more. When he decided to follow a solo career and release some albums that would contain his 'virtuoso' ideas, the Dutch label Mascot Records, home for guitarists like Marty Friedman, Paul Gilbert and Marc Rizzo among others, was there to offer him a contract which led to the release of his debut album Vertigo.

After two more solo albums, which included guest appearances by musicians like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Zakk Wylde to name a few, John 5 continues to release quality albums with his new piece of work Requiem being his latest guitar offering. The US guitarist is more than a blah blah kind of guitarist since he doesn't concentrate on producing neoclassical hypertechnical songs, but heavy and clever compositions that even though they are instrumental, they can still keep you interested as if they were 'normal' songs (I say this because I am not a big fan of instrumental music).

One more good thing about this guitarist is that he experiments on different kinds of music like Heavy Metal (nice and catchy riffing with beautiful solos), Country stuff (with clean guitar and totally hillbilly attitude) and of course some more melodic 'classic' virtuoso stuff with fast shredding and tapping/sweep picking/mom-look-at-me type playing. Ok, it may not be the most unique instrumental album by a guitarist but it is an honest work by a man who knows how to write some good music.

The sound is also one of the album's strong points, and credits go to Mr. Chris Baseford and John 5 who took care of the production. Now many of you may think that as an instrumental album Requiem is only for those who like this kind of stuff, but as I said above I am not a big fan of instrumental albums and I really like this release. So, it's your choice mates.