Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Time flies when the chance to be as outlandish, as creatively free, comes along; without the shackles and constraints that Time has designed upon us, we are able to do all that we desired, to put into practice every motive, every idea that might seem as impossible as witnessing The Elephants Of Mars taking to the stage and performing as the diluted sunlight hits the surface…and finding that is all good-not just good, but exceptional.
It is how we use Time that makes us believe that anything is possible, and in the legendary Joe Satriani’s latest exploit of instances, reflexes of pent-up hours show, The Elephants Of Mars is a project that has every cog whirring, every nuance of memory and occasion beating in synchronisation, and become perhaps the most exciting, most enduring spectacle of rhythm of expertise laid down by the master and his band in his long industrious career.
Across tracks such as Faceless, Tension And Release, the superb Sailing The Seas Of Ganymede, the intriguing physicality and demand of Doors Of Perception, the seismic single Pumpin’, the weaving instrumental narrative of Through A Mother’s Day Darkly, and the finality and bleak fascination that comes with Desolation, Joe Satriani doesn’t just break new ground, he looks into the carnage of beauty and unleashes untold potential, he sets free Time.
Ideas that might seem to be beholden to others and excess and allowing the hours to become a source of captivity, are for Joe Satriani freedom, they are the results of an active and unbridled mind the sense of scope to truly fly in a rich enveloping atmosphere, unhindered, unrestricted by all that can come between creative urge and the damage offered by those who see it their mission to deny inventive brilliance.
In the environment created by The Elephants Of Mars the listener is treated to a powerful sense of achievement, personal and as a group working remotely as times dictate, an intoxicating energy, a force wielded with the strength of a pachyderm, with the beauty of humanity’s ability to dream and create. Joe Satriani excels in a way that is most unexpected and yet undeniably cool and out of this world.
Joe Satriani releases The Elephants Of Mars on April 8th on earMusic.
Ian D. Hall