Album Review — Orianthi

Orianthi — O

Orianthi released her fourth studio album simply titled “O” in early November. It’s her first release since then end of her partnership with Richie Sambora (RSO). And let’s just say she has a few things to say about that on this record.

I wasn’t super familiar with Orianthi before RSO. I had heard a couple of songs and knew that she had played with some folks. Those folks include Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson. I enjoyed the RSO record but it was more poppy than I expected.

There are some pop elements to “O”, but overall this record has an edge to it. The album starts with a crunchy guitar on the dark sounding “Contagious”.

“Sinners Hymn” continues the distorted guitar sound but in a little more bluesy fashion. There’s definitely a more angry tone to the record, and we will see in the coming tracks what the source of that anger is. A strong bluesy track.

“Rescue Me” has another bluesy vibe to it complete with some well-placed blues harp. It’s got a slower pace in the verses but kicks in between. Orianthi shows off her guitar playing chops with an explosive bluesy solo.

The highlight of the record is “Crawling Out Of The Dark”. It’s a simple track with vocals and guitar and tells the story in detail of a past broken relationship. It’s not hard to guess who the song is about. It’s sad, angry and hopeful at the same time.

Other highlights include “Sorry” and “Impulsive” which both feature some strong guitar work.

“O” is another pleasant surprise in a rough year. After hearing the RSO record, I figured Orianthi was behind the pop influence on that album. But “O” is a guitar driven record that features strong guitar work and quality songs.

“O” is a good record. It finds the right balance of hard rock, pop and blues with plenty of edge. And most importantly, there are some very good songs here.

90 out of 100

Track Listing

01. Contagious *
02. Sinners Hymn *
03. Rescue Me
04. Blow
05. Sorry *
06. Crawling Out of the Dark *
07. Impulsive *
08. Streams of Consciousness
09. Company
10. Moonwalker

*Best Songs