Steve Vai formed a new straight-ahead heavy metal combo for the follow-up to his instrumental masterpiece,
Passion and Warfare. In this context, the imaginative guitarist is saddled down by a pedestrian band and an overwrought vocalist, which limits
Vai's ability to stretch out. Consequently, the record is the most predictable and conventional -- not to mention boring -- of
Vai's usually remarkable career. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine