Chickenfoot III. e.a.r. music

Chickenfoot – guitar hero Joe Satriani, drummer Chad Smith, former Van Halen bassist Michael Anthony and frontman Sammy Hagar – have announced details of their second album Chickenfoot III, the follow-up to 2009’s award-winning eponymous debut album. The album, which was produced by Mike Fraser (AC/DC, Metallica), will come complete with specially designed 3D packaging.

“I am very proud of the new album,” says lead singer Sammy Hagar. “We’re calling the album Chickenfoot III because it’s so good, the songs are so tight, it’s like we jumped right past having to make a second record.”  He adds, “We’ve established a real trust, Joe and I, we truly bring out the best in one another, and that spreads to the whole band.”

Chickenfoot III features 10 tracks packed with countless moments of musical-epiphany… Colossal riffs abound on earth-movers such as Alright, Alright, Last Temptation, Big Foot, and Lighten Up; Tradition meets innovation on the Nashville pop-tinged Different Devil, the Delta-blues flavoured Something Going Wrong and the aching rock ballad Come Closer.  The latter marks a dramatic twist, in that Hagar wrote the words first and Satriani composed the music afterward, to suit the lyrics. Elsewhere, Chickenfoot tackle issues such as mortality in Up Next, and the world’s economy in Three and a Half Letters.

And this is another top rock album of 2011. ‘Last Temptation’ opens proceedings in solid blues-rock style with huge melody and performances that one would expect from this gaggle of rock greats. Hell, the Satriani guitar solo is a thing of beauty! ‘Alright Alright’ takes a lighter and more traditional rock route that reminds of the Stones. A thumping rhythm section underpins this superb track. Then comes the more contemplative and cleaner sound of the beautiful ‘Different Devil’ - one of the rock songs of the year - with its quieter verses and explosive choruses.

‘Up Next’ is like a training speeding along and then stopping at stations before ‘Come Closer’ hits the Hammond keys while pushing along relentlessly in solid blues style. Check out the amazing Satriani guitar passages on ‘Lighten Up’along with Chad Smith’s decisive drum work, and the wistful beauty of ‘Come Closer’. This is a fabulous, diversely paced album created by a band who has gelled together so remarkably well, and created for trad rock fans, although it will also appeal to a much wider audience. This is LIFE!

4.5/5