Alex Skolnick Trio
Last Day in Paradise

THE REVIEW

Alex Skolnick returns to strum the strings of his Gibson in 2007, the year this beautiful studio work titled "Last Day in Paradise" is released, and he does so with the ease of great blues guitarists; transitioning from thrash metal to the refined and stimulating jazz/funk featured on this album is not something everyone can do, yet Skolnick's great will and determination, as a "late-blooming" jazz musician, who left a budding career with the band "Testament" to dedicate himself to the in-depth and visceral study of jazz masters, has paid off, bearing fruit. Listening to him with his trio today means encountering a technically skilled, imaginative, and original musician (the reinterpretations of metal classics in a jazz style say a lot), exciting in solos, sometimes possessing above-average compositional abilities, as evidenced by the same "Last Day...".

It was already more or less known, the musician's inclination to use his musical background as a source of ideas to indulge in and bring out jazz sessions; metal classics are used by Skolnick as true standards, disrupted and completely rearranged, becoming the guitarist's pretext for playing jazz music where harmony and improvisation are what matter. Freed from the "compressed" and standardized rules for which they were born, they gain true expressive freedom; the chords and harmonies corrupted by this inclination find new improbable solutions, and the "cold" solos typical of metal are tinged with blues and vibrancy. This latest effort by the musician, in addition to the three tracks extracted from the metal world, contains a good amount of original compositions rich in melodies and interesting ideas, among which it is essential to mention the successful "Mercury Retrograde", an evocative opening track characterized by graceful guitar phrasings that brush against Matt Zebroski's driving groove on the drums; few virtuosities but a lot of class shine through the arpeggios and harmonies produced by the six-string instrument, the track flows by recalling the magical world of Pat Metheny, who with his refined fusion has managed to evoke more than one emotion from his astonished listeners. Skolnick has mastered so much artistry and demonstrates it on more than one occasion, from the beautiful version of Ozzy Osbourne's "Revelation Mother Earth" transformed into a semi-bossa nova bearing one of the musician's best guitar solos, to the splendid ballad "Shades of Grey".

Skolnick also dusts off a track by Testament themselves ("Practice What You Preach"), revisited here in an over-the-top and entertaining Latin-funk version. The album, in fact, alternates decidedly slow moments with more lively and rhythmic ones; you can feel, and it is ever-present, the rhythm section composed of the aforementioned Zebroski, whose deadly groove and impressive feeling with the other two musicians become a true example and study of music played in a trio. A lot of experience, capability, class, and a few dips in style that are forgiven for the quality of the rest of the recording.

Forget the furious riffs of thrash and the hard and aggressive sounds of metal, Skolnick gives his guitar a soul and personality, his touch is recognizable, his imagination is unstoppable, and his phrasing abandons all stereotypes. Another excellent performance this time, and we hope to hear him again soon in this version that is as unusual as it is delectable. Enjoy listening.