My very first taste of Joe Satriani (Satch, from here on out) was not his first album, although I was an immediate fan. I started my listening career with The Extremist. A great album, one of the few albums where every song has some catchy hook that has you humming along in no time at all. Since then I have compiled a full Satch collection, and Crystal Planet was the last album I faithfully bought upon release.

Let me take a moment to repeat that phrase." Crystal Planet was the last album I faithfully bought upon release". I was the kind of Satch fan who visited the websites frequently and ran to the store each time a new album was released. When Engines of Creation was released, however, I waited.

Engines toted a new direction for Satch, and that made me cautious. I can't stand shelling out twenty bucks for an album with a new sound only to learn, twenty dollars poorer, that I still liked the old sound! As a dedicated Satch fan I felt a slightly guilty, but I wanted to read some reviews and talk to some friends who could tell me if I should save my money or not.

If all great plans are laid to waste, this one takes no exception. I never read any reviews, and (this is the ironic part) the only person who I knew that had heard the album refused to tell me his opinion until I listened to it first! So I did. I took my fifteen dollars (it was on sale at the local store) and took the plunge.

I don't regret it.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was damned surprised! I knew that Engines was going to be a different album than what Satch traditionally released. That knowledge alone left me weary and perhaps a little open-minded.

The first track opens up with a slick techno-beat that I thought would make me cringe. Satch, the blazing technical guitarist who released a blues album a few years back and began his career selling home-made tapes of his music from the trunk of his car, was going techno! I was sure this was the end of Satch for me.

But I was surprised to find that Satch makes the beat work. He uses two and three guitars and creates a catchy harmony that catches the listener's interest, something that I hadn't heard in a long time. The song builds, settles, builds, and eventually takes off. Before I knew it, the beat began to move the song. I stopped thinking about the beat and started listening to it.

As the tracks rolled on, I realized that the sound Satch uses on Engines really binds the whole package together. The sound is new, different, and fresh, pulling me wide-eyed through the first five songs. Satch takes out all the stops on this one. He throws in his blues influence on one track, creates funky polyrythms on another, and introduces some angry, heavy sounds into most of the first five tracks.

Satch still manages to show off his technical skills with some searing solos (notice the alliteration?) and includes a few mellow tracks to keep the album flowing. Unlike some of his last albums, he uses each of these qualities sparingly. That's a good thing. The result is a burning need for the listener to hear more of them, and that's just why the album appeals to me.

The rest of the album really held my interest, too. There are a few songs on the album that I could take or leave, but the songs that catch my ear do so with conviction. Take track 2, "Flavor Crystal," for example. I notice Satch creatively begins a melodic theme early in the song, then re-visits the idea in a new, bluesy way later in the piece. As a familiar theme is heard, the song gains continuity and ties the theme together in a pleasing way.

If I had to choose my favorite track off the album, I'd have a hard time. I really get into the grinding power of track 3, "Borg Sex," but on the other hand I find myself drawn to the drawl and southern twang on track 6, "Champagne." And some of the other tracks bring Satch's techniques from his older albums into new light, modifying them enough to keep the listener's interest.

Now, I need to take a moment to clarify my position on this album. I liked it, and its creativity works in a way some of his last albums had not. But I wouldn't want all his albums to sound like this one. As I said earlier, the sound he uses on Engines really binds the whole package together.

So, that is my opinion, as humble as it may be. I really like the album, and I'm glad I finally got out and bought it. I regret my lack of faith in Satch, having waited so long to buy his latest creation (no pun intended).

I guess I'll just have to listen to it twice as much now.

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