A name that should be notable at this point to the Japanese following metal crowd, Sally is a member of Lipstick (currently on hiatus), as well as mellows and LOC. If you have heard any of those bands, you undoubtedly are aware of her ability to literally shred guitar. If not, Burn It provides a mostly instrumental experience that you can enjoy and get a good feel for her prowess at the instrument. Burn It is an album that should find appeal with fans of instrumental metal, but there’s just as much for power metal fans to enjoy at the same time.
While this scribe isn’t normally huge on instrumental albums that focus on intense shredwork, what Sally has done here is quite impressive. Five of the eight songs are completely instrumental, and you’d honestly never think about missing a vocal part. Despite their frequent high-speed and high-stakes soloing and leads, they are rather discernible from each other. There’s plenty of flashy guitarwork, which is of course the main draw here, but it never feels self-indulgent. Instead the short song lengths allow Sally to get straight to the heart of the matter and do what she does best. There’s also plenty of melodic elements within the structuring. “Frozen Garden” may be an exhilarating opener but it’s grounded in some absolutely beautiful guitar melodies from it’s onset. While it almost instantly switches gears into shred, the playful melodies persist and operate alongside dizzying solos and urgent riffs. “Mission” operates in the same territory, delivering furious riffing that is coated in soaring melodies and leads. Closer “Samurai” breaks slightly from the chaos, executing some brilliant mid-tempo headbanging material to go with it’s ear-grabbing solos.
There are three tracks which feature guest musicians, and offer a nice reprieve at key moments from the otherwise galloping instrumental assault. “Into the Desire” has a strong NWOBHM vibe to it, and vocalist Tetsuya Kanmuri (The Kanmuri) offers a solid and varied performance that should really appeal to Beast in Black fans with his range. Single “Lost at Sea” goes more on the melodic side of things, elevating the keys and giving vocalist Anju Tachibana some room to flex her soaring power metal delivery that has just the right mix of energy and emotion. Lastly is “Can’t Say a Word,” which still lunges shred-first while vocalist Ibuki (who is also responsible for the synths/programming) gives a powerful performance with some fist-raising work on the chorus.
Burn It is a thrilling roller coaster of riveting guitar solos and massive hook-filled riffs. Sally’s first solo album will leave power metal fans with a huge smile on their faces. For all of it’s over-the-top guitarwork, it stays grounded and memorable and avoids being too excessive due to it’s ‘get to the point’ ethos and ear-catching melodies. Sally should be standing just as tall as any of her Western guitarist counterparts.