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Album Review

John 5 – “The Devil Knows My Name”

Going from Rob Zombie, to Marilyn Manson, and now on his own, John 5 is one of the most well respected guitar players of today. If you ask any teenager, and quite a few middle aged people, and say “Do you know who John 5 is?” most of them will say “Yeah he used to play for Manson!” Although the album claims to be a solo record, this is not necessarily true.

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Going from Rob Zombie, to Marilyn Manson, and now on his own, John 5 is one of the most well respected guitar players of today. If you ask any teenager, and quite a few middle aged people, and say “Do you know who John 5 is?” most of them will say “Yeah he used to play for Manson!” Although the album claims to be a solo record, this is not necessarily true. While John took care of guitar and bass, bass was also taken care of by Piggy D. of Rob Zombie, and Matt Bissonette of David Lee Roth. The drums were covered by Sid Riggs, and Tommy Clefutos of Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie. Throughout a lot of the album, John managed to get guest appearances, which include Joe Satriani, Jim Root, and Eric Johnson.

The strange thing I noticed about the album was its theme. The entire album is themed after serial killers. “The Werewolf of Westeria” was the nickname that Albert Fish went by (yes, a serial killer). “Harold Rollings Hymn” is an edited version of the song that Danny Rollings sang before he was hung. And also “Black Widow of La Porte” references the female serial killer, Belle Gunness. Another strange thing was how John made the entire album into an instrumental. I guess it would make sense, considering he’s a guitar player.

Another thing that was truly remarkable about the album was the cover of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome To The Jungle.” Due to John being a guitar player, there are no vocals whatsoever, but instead of vocals, he plays a lead over top of the music where the words should be. Amazingly enough, the lead sounds astoundingly like the actual words being sung. Now, I’ve never been a huge GNR fan, but this cover was simply amazing!

There is another cover on the album as well. “Young Thing” is a cover of Chet Atkins. The upbeat style of this track is enough to get anybody dancing around in their seat. John’s change of style is one of the things that make him a great guitar player; he can go from heavy metal, to blues without a flinch. And even without the lyrics, you can tell what song it is, and even if you aren’t a fan of blues you will still find yourself tapping your foot.

On the whole, the album was purely incredible. I didn’t think the album was going to be worth listening to, considering it’s only instrumentals, but I was mistaken. If anybody can pull off an album entirely of solos, it’s John 5. I give The Devil Knows My Name an 8.6/10.  [ END ]

Track Listing:

01. First Victim
02. Werewolf of Westeria
03. 27 Needles
04. Bella Kiss
05. Black Widow of La Porte
06. Welcome to the Jungle
07. Harold Rollings Hymn
08. Dead Art in Plainfield
09. Young Thing
10. Washing Away of Wrong
11. July 31st

Run Time: 53:32
Release Date: 2007

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