John 5 – Careful with That Axe

I really enjoy the previous six studio releases from John 5. In my mind, he is the greatest contemporary solo guitar artist in metal with a vast musical repertoire. The 2008 release, Requiem is my favorite John 5 album. It contains an awesome blend of nylon strings, banjo effects, flamenco guitar and full-force thrashing. It remains an all-time favorite reference to great solo albums.

I think Careful with That Axe is a less broody album than some of the other releases. The album only covers 30:54 as a blitzkrieg of exhibitionist riffs. The album’s title and a song is reference to an actual person, Sidney Sloan who murdered his father with an axe in 1906. He struck his father several times in the head. At first he claimed ignorance and later were sent to a criminally insane institute. Years later he bragged he would do it again if he could.

We Need to Have a Talk about John starts with modern day news samples of axe killings, and others samples, including one from the movie Full Metal Jacket. It serves as a striking intro to tribute Sidney Sloan as a theme on the album.

This Is My Rifle is the second longest song on the album. It starts with samples of machine guns firing to a beat. The incredible solos are true to John 5’s style. The song, Flight of the Vulcan Kelly starts with an erratic intro, building and breaking with sweeps and impressive bass work. This song is definitely of the more experimental songs in John 5’s musical repertoire.

Jerry’s Breakdown has a country music, carnival-type theme to it; a hillbilly-esque song. The awesome riffs in the middle of the song confirm a happy tune with impressive builds to amazing solos. Villisca is a straight forward good rock and roll song. Portrait of Sidney Sloan has a broody, fast intro with a fitting horror movie feel to the song.

Jiffy Jam is happy country music type song with banjo and steel-string acoustic riffs throughout the 3 minutes. It is well thought out and almost cheery bar song. Six Hundred And Sixty Packers in Hell contain groovy riffs and fitting bass guitar work. John 5 displaying his ability to scream his guitar.

El Cucuy covers the flamenco guitar song. A classic build signifies being near the end of the album. The Dream Slayer is surprisingly the heaviest song on the album as the final song. With harsh guitar screams and pounding drums it serves as closure to an impressive musical exhibition.

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