Album Review: Orianthi - Heaven In This Hell

With a few fiery licks Orianthi, Adelaide's golden-girl guitarist, can make her instrument sing, which kinda means that she doesn't have to. No misconception, the vocals on the new pop-rock album aren't bad but her tone and lyrics lack the individuality that her complex and stylised guitar solos have by the armful.

The title track opens with a smoky male voiceover and a catchy electric guitar riff before an earful of her polished vocals kick in with 'Baby, baby, baby, don't it feel like heaven in this hell'. The track ends with an unexpected dip into a gentle, Spanish-style acoustic sound and from this point on, her six-stringed prowess and diversity begins to glimmer through.  

How Do You Sleep opens with a soulful electric guitar solo that hits you square in the ribcage and continues into a ballad with effective back-up vocals and a more believable vocal delivery. Once again, it ends with a plucked refrain easing into Frozen, a track that saves itself at the last second with a great call and response guitar and blues harmonica duet that provides much-needed originality. 

While many of the tracks follow a basic structure that borders on monotonous, the second half of the LP gathers momentum with a run of gentle ballads like Rock that boasts the best melodic line and How Does That Feel?, which has some serious air-guitar moments and sounds almost like a gritty version of Taylor Swift or a modern-day Avril Lavigne.

Heaven In This Hell is fine for a light rock-pop album and some rebellious tweens will probably love it, but Orianthi has the potential, the depth and the talent for a more memorable record.