John Frusciante - The Empyrean

Before The Beginning - 3
Song To The Siren - 3
Unreachable - 4
God - 3
Dark / Light - 3
Heaven - 4
Enough Of Me - 3
Central - 3
One More Of Me - 4
After The Ending - 3
Total - 33 stars / 10 stars = 3.30 stars

Unlike Frusciante's earlier (and very, very good) The Will To Death, The Empyrean is less consistent (although not entirely lacking) in its greatness.

The first really good track, "Unreachable" is multicoloured song, sometimes funky, sometimes raw, always enjoyable.

"Dark/Light" sounds like a looping funk jam session being run entirely by a guy at a laptop with the second half of its eight-and-a-half minutes beginning to border on tedium.

"Heaven" is a 3.5-star track that is performed competently, with little flashes, or snatches of a higher calling.

"One More Of Me" is initially stirring because of how low the vocal line is. Nonetheless, his voice is still relentlessly engaging. The string section section at the end also provides a different flavour, that still blends with the sound of the rest of the album.

The Empyrean is still quite a good album, with "Unreachable" and "One More Of Me" standing among my favourite Frusciante songs. As a whole, however, the album does not quite live up to the kinds of expectations that John Frusciante has shown he can live up to.