Satch has been moving away from the shred/experimental guitar style for the last few albums and more into bluesy/rock territory (and thus somewhat simpler music). This really isn't a bad thing, but it has taken some getting used to. He was always marrying technical playing with "feeling" (i.e. he bends his strings [rolleyes] - FYI that's a stab at the idiots who think feeling requires you to sound like Dave Gilmour (and yes, I know Dave Gilmour is great, fuck off)). The awesome thing about his current approach is that it sounds simple, but fuck me, it's not. There's a lot of subtle shit going on (and sometimes not so subtle) so you really have to listen. I think he's managed a great balance on this particular album. Joe no longer needs to prove his skill to anyone and now he's able to focus on writing stuff he really enjoys playing, and that's what comes through here.
And this sets me on my rant of "feeling" in guitar. Christ I can't tell you how many idiots I've weathered saying "You play fast, thus you have no feeling" (not in so many words, but they're inarticulate twats). These people really and honestly do NOT get it. Just because it doesn't invoke a feeling in you, doesn't mean it lacks feeling. It'll invoke a feeling on someone. And if you really enjoy playing that kind of stuff, play on, if not, more power to you. Some people take "feeling" to mean the guitarist is feeling "something" while he/she is playing. But how do you know Yngwie Malmsteen isn't feeling something when he's shredding his fingers off? You don't and until you actually write something like that you can't comprehend (fyi, I've seen Yngwie play live, he looks like he's feeling quite a bit when he plays kthxbye). Some of these idiots who bitch and moan about how this kind of music doesn't have any 'feeling' are usually trying to rationalize their lack of ability, a "I can't play it, so it sucks" frame of mind. Don't rationalize your lack of talent by saying it's 'art', you just sound like a whiny bitch that I want to hit in the throat.
