Rock Candy
Orianthi
•
February 7, 2023
Through the acknowledged partnership that seems increasingly consolidated with Frontier Records the Australian guitarist of Greek descent ORIANTHI arrives on her fifth solo album, despite still being under forty years old she has a wonderful resume. Before she was 20, she had already shared the stage with Steve Vai and Carlos Santana. In subsequent years, the musician played with legends such as Prince, Eric Clapton and Michael Jackson, and participated in the tour of Alice cooper's band for about 3 years. The new work of guitarist, singer and songwriter is based on a Hard/Pop rock and has a good production and mixing.
"Illuminate (Part I)" is a short introduction that works like a solo before we got introduce to upcoming songs, so we start on "Light It Up" and I have to say that it seems even a right choice to get the job done, has a strong footprint of the hard hock of the nineties a rather sticky chorus and as one would expect an excellent guitar solo. Then we move on to "Fire Together" which has a more pop footprint, and still a stronger feeling from a decade before. Although it is already important to highlight Orianthi's concern to produce Choruses of good performance, and so on in most tracks. They are simple, but they have a great harmony, and always pleasant. "Where Did Your Heart Go" follows the same path as the previous song, but it's even slower, and works more like a ballad, another important point to say, is that the slow pace here provides an even greater immersion in the beautiful guitar work done by her with the lead guitars singing in the background for virtually the entire duration.
"Red Light" returns to a stronger rhythm, flirting with heavy metal has a very striking presence among all tracks. " Void" is very interesting and I cannot help but notice a certain influence of the singer "Billie Eilish", especially in the rhythm proposed in the introduction and the recurring beat throughout its plays. "Living Is Like Dying Without You" is another ballad but this time the singer chooses to go with acoustic guitar, going more thru a smooth and chill vibe, feelings and that stuff u know what I am talking about and "Illuminate (Part II)" is the closure of the album, also instrumental as the intro was, focusing on guitars again, but this time with more elements to fulfill in between. In conclusion, the album again, its not bad, but we all expect greater things because we know what she is capable of, yes, seems to don't want to leave her comfort zone any soon, and still for me, its worth to check out.
7 / 10
Good
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Rock Candy" Track-listing:
1. Illuminate (Part I)
2. Light It Up
3. Fire Together
4. Where Did Your Heart Go
5. Red Light
6. Void
7. Burning
8. Living Is Like Dying Without You
9. Witches & The Devil
10. Getting to Me
11. Illuminate (Part II)
Orianthi Lineup:
Orianthi - Vocals, Guitar
Jacob Bunton - Bass, Guitar, Keyboards, Piano, Violin, Backing Vocals
Kyle Cunningham - Drums
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