Inside of Emptiness

Inside of Emptiness is John Frusciante's fifth release of 2004, this time principally inspired by the raw production values of Lust for Life and White Light/White Heat. Considerably more guitar-oriented than Will to Death and more straightforward than Ataxia's Automatic Writing, Inside of Emptiness rocks hard up until the last track (a gentle rocker), without the polish of Shadows Collide With People. That difference is best exemplified by the leadoff track, "What I Saw," where every level is sent into the red; even the drums are distorted. Many of the songs are sung in falsetto, but when the guitar solos come in, they're all muscle and really benefit from the immediacy of the production. As with the other albums in this series, Frusciante is wearing his influences on his sleeve but following his own vision, and it's quite interesting to track an artist's virtually unfiltered output over the course of a year or so. Inside of Emptiness won't win any awards for originality, but Frusciante deserves credit for maintaining a high level of quality with such a prodigious output.