HARDWARES

Hurricane/Burning Rain guitarist Doug Aldrich chimes in with a slinky funky considerably heavy solo album that elegantly swirls in concentric circles around guys like Hendrix, Kotzen, Hughes and Whitesnake. Lively as all get out and a sensuous six-string burner from start to finish, Alter Ego is well-paced ('cept for an instrumental first track!), Aldrich proving himself a master of this terrain, composing roundabout note-dense riffs well within the pleasure dome of song. But there are a few mellow tracks (fave: lush folk instrumental 'Zepster Applachian Sister') as well as recurring heavy and playful instrumentals, so peaks and valleys occur, Aldrich punctuating the proceedings through the use of awesome guest vocalists like Kal Swann, grizzled Little Caesar vet Ron Young and Matt Kramer, who is an aristocratic presence on the punchy Slash-like number 'Her Kingdom'. Damn good fortified fun, and a welcome re-engineering of the man's influences into something vibrant and heavy yet classic rock and rhythmic. See www.zrecords.net for more info.