Guitarist Steve Vai released his new album, “Inviolate,” on January 28, 2022, digitally and on CD (vinyl arrived on March 18th).
Throughout his 40-plus-year career, Steve Vai has routinely transformed what would seem outrageously impossible into something very, very possible…and also quite outrageous. From his days as Frank Zappa’s “acrobatic guitarist” to his most recent expansive and exploratory solo work, Vai has continually challenged traditional notions of guitar playing and composition, and on more than one occasion has even reimagined the instrument itself.
The album’s hypnotic opener, “Teeth Of The Hydra,” is a sinuous Latin fusion-tinged composition that Vai wrote and recorded on a one-of-a-kind custom guitar he dubbed Hydra. But to call the Hydra a simple guitar is a very, very understatement. Built-in collaboration with designers at Hoshino and based on Vai’s idea of a “steampunk motif,” the Hydra is a beast of an instrument: a one-body, two-headed, three-necked creature that encompasses, among other things, guitars from seven and 12 strings; a four-string bass; sympathetic harp strings; necks half free; single-coil, humbucking, piezo and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters; And much much more.
Watch the newly released music video of “Teeth Of The Hydra” in the video below: