Band : Joe Stump
Album Title : Virtuostic Vendetta
Label : Lion Music
Distributor : Lion Music - Bertus
Release Date : 17/04/2009
Review : CD

Back with his ninth solo attack, Joe Stump’s Virtuostic Vendetta is full of exceptional music and highlights include the neo classical “Chasing the dragon” the crunching “Pistol whipped” and the Hendrix-ian “Strat sorcery” and loads of others that you'll discover on this 72-minute shredding monster.

An instrumental album by a man who idolises Malmsteen (especially on “Fire and brimstone” and “The witching hour”) and Blackmore which overtly comes out in his work “Blackmore’s boogie” and “The dance of Kashani” inspired by Rainbow’s classic “Gates of babylon”. Joe digs into the heavy blues with the sighing “Old school throwdown”  that has a Robin Trower vibe as does “Trigger happy” that also happens to very ZZ Top as well. He also gets all classical on us when he delights with “Allegro 2 in A minor” by Paganinni. Joe is having a ball in popularity and no wonder with an album like this.

90/100

Peter Brems.