Generally artists rely on working patterns, and during their careers their albums tend to sound more or less similar. Thus I wasn't expecting anything epochal from Impellitteri's latest effort, which is titled as 'Pedal to the Metal'. Nevertheless, Impellitteri differentiates from the rest as he has modernized his style. Therefore, 'Pedal to the Metal' marks a new era for Impellitteri. If one compares this new album to Chris Impellitteri's previous albums, some distinctive differences can be noticed. The music has become more metal-oriented. The first two albums I ever heard from Impellitteri were 'Victim of the System' (1993) and 'Eye of the Hurricane' (1998). Both of those albums were more classic hard rock oriented than Impellitteri's new album.

With 'Pedal to the Metal' Chris Impellitteri introduces his new-found influences, which seem to vary from Freak Kitchen, Zakk Wylde, Megadeth, KenZiner and Angra among countless others. Those aforementioned artists are the first ones that I associated immediately while listening to 'Pedal to the Metal'. The material on this album is rather steady quality-wise, and above all the diversity of this record is laudable.

'Pedal to the Metal' was recorded at Track Recording Studio (Hollywood California), where also the mixing was handled, and Imp Studio (Los Angeles). Mastering took place at Precision Mastering (Hollywood California) by Tom Baker. The sounds are rather felicitous if one ignores Impellitteri's guitar tone (during the recording, the levels were probably too high causing unwanted distortion every now and then).

The open-minded fans of Impellitteri will definitely find this new album interesting, but some may narrow-mindedly fret over Impellitteri's new direction. Impellitteri's 'Pedal to the Metal' should find its way to the myriad homes of "metalheads"...

Few snippets of this album can be found from the audio section of the official Impellitteri Fan Club website.


- MAGE (March 3rd, 2005)

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LINE-UP:
Impellitteri, Chris: Guitar Skelton, Curtis: Vocals Pulli, James: Bass Sobel, Glen: Drums Additional musician: Roth, Ed
Producer:	Impellitteri, Chris
Mixing by:	Reeley, Greg
Mastering by:	Baker, Tom

	TRACKLIST:
	01. The Iceman Cometh 02. The Kingdom of Titus (Tribute) 03. Dance with the Devil 04. Hurricane 05. Crushing Daze 06. Destruction 07. Judgement Day 08. Punk 09. Propaganda Mind 10. The Writings on the Wall Length: 36:38