Well to be honest I thought I was going to hate this album, the rumours of 'Chris Impellitteri' hiring a 'Nu Metal' vocalist had me reeling, as this is a genre I don't like in any shape or form. Thankfully 'Curtis Skelton' turns out to be a very talented vocalist, who at times isn't too dissimilar from 'Rob Rock' and overall is a vast improvement from 'Graham Bonnet'. So what's this about 'Nu Metal'?, well there's a couple of elements from this genre that creep into a few tracks, while 'Curtis Skelton' as well as being very melodic can go 'Death / Nu Metal' at times, but overall this is kept too a bare minimum. The song writing is definitely better than 'System X' and I give 'Chris Impellitteri' credit for keeping the music fresh, as he's turned it around from the late 90's where all the albums were staring to sound the same.

'Pedal to the Metal' opens with the heavy hitting 'Iceman Cometh' and after a quiet introduction, thunders into a guitar fuelled ripper, there's a couple of modern elements present, especially the distortion in the chorus and needless swearing, but it all seems to come together surprisingly well. It's back to the traditional 'Impellitteri' sound with the pulsating / grooving rocker 'Kingdom of Titus', the rhythm work is divine, while new boy 'Curtis Skelton' proves his worth with excellent melodic, yet powerful vocals- the fret work is also as always superb. 'Dance with the Devil' is next and overlooking the intro which is too similar to 'Freak Show' from 'Crunch', is a trademark song, fast, full of skilled guitaring and crisp vocals. Slightly more contemporary is the pulsating 'Hurricane', a solid track braced by a simplistic but punchy chorus and more solid work from 'Skelton', the only thing I'm not keen on is the sloppy sound effects. 'Crushing Daze' ensue and is too far into the 'Nu Metal' genre for my liking, the grotesque vocals do nothing for me and overall is a disappointing track. Much better is the brisk rocker 'Destruction', which displays stunningly intricate guitaring from 'Chris', while 'Curtis Skelton' brings back memories of 'Rob Rock' on the verses. 'Judgement Day' ensues in similar fashion, with some tasty neo-classical axe work, sharp song writing and passionate, melodic vocals on the mid track wind down. Vastly less impressive is the diabolical Rap offering 'Punk', this should not have made it onto the album and 'Chris' should know better than this!. Back on track is 'Propaganda Mind' a well penned track, let down only by some repetitive keyboarding, while 'Writings on the Wall' closes strongly with blazing fret work and effective layered vocals.

As long as 'Chris Impellitteri' keeps the 'Nu Metal' element to a bare minimum, 'Pedal to the Metal' is a step in the right direction, it would also be nice if the album's duration exceeded 40 minutes, but fans of 'Impellitteri' should be used to this by now!