The opener brings to mind White Zombie in their hey-day but gives way to much more, including a Motörhead bassline on the second song. By #3, “Haven from Silence,” LuPone invokes equal parts Master of Puppets era Metallica, mid-career solo Ozzy, and classic Iron Maiden. “By the Time You Hear This” is a mid-paced rocker that instantly recalls 80s Metal (not Glam) musically speaking, but with vocals that are more of the mopey 90s type. His voice is not terrible but the focus, as suggested earlier, is clearly the guitar, and so it should be.

“Trail of Light” opens with a full-on Thrash assault and gives way to some Van Halen leads and fast riffing that could rival Jon Schaffer. Then the curveball: “Forever in a Day” sounds like Die Krupps was an inspiration from the vocals to the keyboards to the drumming but is still pretty good. This is succeeded by a number that could have easily come from Buckethead’s “Colma” album, aside from the vocals, which then gives way to a Ministry-sounding electronic romp followed by another Buckethead-esque song. The closing song invokes Zakk Wylde’s mellower BLS moments and the bearded one would be duly impressed.

Aside from the vocals, my biggest complaint with this record is the obvious (necessary?) use of a drum machine. It can’t cost that much to get whatever patch or program Fear Factory employed on their first several records (you did know that, didn’t you?) to make more realistic sounding drum beats. That notwithstanding, this guy can flat out play. If you’re into the whole (mostly) instrumental thing this is definitely worth your time. I hope he can find a drummer (and other musicians) to share his vision because that would help take him to the next level. Very impressive.

written by Tony Belcher

Playing time: 52.54