One of the last of the guitar studio studs, Steve Lukather puts together a working team of David Paich/keys, Jorgen Carlsson-Lee Sklar/b, Shannon Forrest-Simon Philips/dr and Joseph Williams/keys-voc and Trev Lukather/g-b-synth for a collection of dark rockers. Where his last album had more of a “jam” feel, this one focuses on tight and arranged originals, with Lukather in harrowing voice and bringing out impressive guitar licks from his magic bag of tricks.
There’s a riff-fest to “I’ll Never Know” and the team simmers to Paich’s thick and orange embered keys on “Burning Bridges”. Phillips hits hard around Trev Lukather’s synth stylings on “Far From Over” and supplies thunder to Lukather’s lightning guitar work on the Aerosmithy “Not My Kind of People”. The moody “Someone” has Lukather supplying guitar and bass to the Police-ish “Someone” while his “All Forever” features him on piano for the heavy ballad “All Forevers Must End”. Well conceived ideas, filled with rich sounds, but definitely painted with greys and blacks. Not “Toto”, but digging in “in toto”. .