This one completely caught me off guard.  Soren Andersen, famous for being the guitarist for the great Glenn Hughes as well as Electric Guitars and Mike Tramp, released a new solo album without me even knowing.  How does that happen.  It doesn’t matter as I found it and I am a better person for it.  After the brilliance of his 2011 release ‘Constant Replay’, this time around he goes full on instrumental.

From the opening track, “City of Angels”, you know you are in for something special.  At times there is a whole Satriani vibe to the songs because they are songs.  They are full of melodies and typical song structure you can almost sing along with the guitars which is what I want in an instrumental. There is no showboating for the sake of showboating.  He isn’t going, “hey, look what I can do!!”.  He is giving you his heart and emotions in his songs.

At times he goes all metal with songs such as “The Kid” that come at you like a fist to the face.  He is a rocker at heart with songs like “Agent Wells” that even throw in some funky bass lines.  There are even a couple songs I would consider ballads with the song “Satori” and “Bird Feeder” which are both a little reminiscent of Satriani from his early 90’s work.  “Skybar” opens with a little electronica elements and some wicked ass bass guitar.  The album is full of interesting elements and Soren isn’t a one-trick pony.  He gives you a little of everything.  The album ends with one of the most interesting tracks, “Bipolar”, which gives you two elements of his style and sound and blends them together.

This is the type of instrumental album I love.  Songs!!  It actually has songs that get stuck in your head, that you can sing along with the guitar, that are utterly fantastic.  Although his first solo album was singing and what I expected on this one as well (since I knew nothing about it), the all instrumental was refreshing and BRILLIANT!!  I will give it a 4.5 out of 5.0 Stars. This will be getting played as much as his debut…if not more!!