The devil may be in the details, but Zeus can be found in Steve Vai‘s guitar breakdown! That’s what the guitar great revealed when discussing his newest release from his forthcoming Inviolate album.
The hard rocking instrumental track features plenty of Vai flourishes, but it was the guitar breakdown that really captured Vai’s attention.
“The title for this track ‘Zeus in Chains’ was told to me by the track when I was listening back and asked it… ‘What’s your name?,'” recalled Vai. “This happened during the heavy guitar breakdown with the dissonant high note that happens right before the solo. It sounded like Zeus in Chains. Hey, it’s art. You can make up anything you want and it’s legitimate.”
You can take a listen to the track below and see if “Zeus” is speaking to you as well.
“Zeus in Chains” follows the recently released single “Little Pretty” that’s also part of the forthcoming Inviolate album. The full record will be released digitally and on CD on Jan. 28, with a vinyl LP version to follow on March 18. You can place your pre-orders here.
Speaking about the new album, Vai offers, “It’s very ‘Vai,’ whatever that means (laughs). Someone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But it’s just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they’re long and there’s a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people.”
“An inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure,” Vai continues. “It appears almost in its completeness, and there’s a recognition of it as being right for you – perfectly right for you. There’s no excuses in it. There’s no fantasy in it, just enthusiasm. There’s a recognition of ‘yes.’ And then you capture that in a way that’s authentic to your unique creativity, and I feel as though that’s what I’ve done with this record.”
