The famed guitarist, Nita Strauss is releasing her second full length album this July. She’s most known for shredding with (Alice) Cooper, but her last album, Controlled Chaos, showed the depth of her talent in a full-length face-melting instrumental album. This album, she has several guest artists, as well as instrumental tracks. She features tracks with Alissa White-Gluz, Chris Motionless, Lzzy Hale, David Draiman, Dorothy, Ander Fired, Alice Cooper, Lilith Czar, and Marty Friedman.
Her single with David Draiman, “Dead Inside,” became the first song by a female solo artist to become #1 at rock radio in 2023.
The album starts off with “Summer Storm” with a false calm of storm sounds to lull you to sleep, but then turns into the ultimate shred. It reminds me of classic Avenged Sevenfold with their style of intricate speed guitar licks. She also takes those deep growling guitar chords in hers songs, like “Scorched” showing her versatility as an artist.
I loved every collaboration she did on this album. It was a perfect blend of her own sound, and the artist’s sounds to showcase their talent. Her track with Dorothy, “Victorious” might be my favorite as it’s bound to be this summer’s anthem. And of course, the track “Winner Takes All” with Alice Cooper is incredible with that deep, heavy guitar, and I love the energy of the track with “Nothing’s going to keep me down, winner takes all.” I’m guilty of associating his older hits with his name, but this was a pleasant surprise of a modern heavy rock song.
Kintsugi is the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, making it stronger and more beautiful where it’s been broken. One of her solo songs is called “Kintsugi,” so I was really excited to listen to it to hear how that can be translated musically. It’s a beautiful 5 minute solo that will lull you to sleep, and it’s fascinating how in the strings I can hear pain and hope as she moves through different progressions.
Anything Nita touches is gold so I’m not surprised at how amazing her second album is. I loved the first one, this one is my favorite of hers so far! It’s a great balance of collaborative art and her own style. It will be available July 7 on all platforms.
Tracklist:
1. Summer Storm
2. The Wolf You Feed (Feat. Alissa White-Gluz)
3. Digital Bullets (Feat. Chris Motionless)
4. Through the Noise (Feat. Lzzy Hale)
5. Consume the Fire
6. Dead Inside (Feat. David Draiman)
7. Victorious (Feat. Dorothy)
8. Scorched
9. Momentum
10. The Golden Trail (Feat. Alice Cooper)
11. Monster (Feat. Lilith Czar)
12. Kintsugi
13. Surfacing (Feat. Marty Friedman) Bonus Track
