I’d like to give a shout-out to Tommy Morais, who requested this review!  Check out his Amazon Reviews, he is one of their top rated reviewers!

I first became aware of Oriantha when Alice Cooper hired her as his new lead guitarist, replacing Damon Johnson.  Doing my research, I saw that she had even worked with Steve Vai and Michael Jackson!  This meant, the lady could play!

Because I don’t do things small, I decided to pick up the Japanese import of Believe (II) to check out her skills.  The Japanese import contains 3 bonus tracks:  two versions of a Cream cover, “Sunshine of Your Love”, and a useless remix of “According To You”.

ORIANTHI – Believe (II) Japanese import with bonus tracks (2009)

I’m not really into this kind of pop rock anymore, but Orianthi does fill this more aggressive pop rock void that Avril used to occupy.  Believe (II) reminds me of that one sincerely good Avil album, the second one, in that it’s undoubtedly rock yet melodic and well recorded, not overproduced.

What separates this girl from the rest of them is that her chops on the guitar are absolutely stunning.  Each song has a solo spot, well composed, and expertly executed.  This girl is a shredder who happens to play commercial pop rock.  Well, OK.  I can dig it.

The best tracks to me seem to the be chosen singles:  “According to You”, “Shut Up and Kiss Me”, and the instrumental “Highly Strung”, featuring Oriantha trading licks with Vai.  There’s also a decent version of “Missing You” by John Waite, which, I guess, I like better than the original, since I really don’t like John Waite.

The songs are written by the usual suspects, song doctors new and old including Desmond Child.  There are a couple tracks though that are not messed with by song doctors, and I hope that Orianthi is moving more in that direction in the future.

Orianthi has a good but not an especially different sounding voice from all the other girls rocking it out there these days.  Her range is good, she has power, just not a particularly unique sound or style.  I also can’t help but think she’s trying to sing “American”.

I think it’s a good enough album for this stage in her career, and I think she is going to grow by leaps and bounds, touring the world with Alice Cooper.  But before Orianthi makes another solo album, I hope she has the opportunity to record with Cooper.

For Believe (II): 3.5/5 stars