Pity the man who thought George Lynch was merely an Igor to Don Dokken's Frankenstein.

Though he's fared well in the aforementioned group and his own project, Lynch Mob, it's on Sacred Groove that Lynch branches out into territory normally shunned in the metal world.

Going into the melodic territory of Joe Satriani while maintaining his own unique guitar tone and acrobatics, Lynch wears his title of guitar guru proudly on his sleeve, especially during a time when grunge was at the forefront of popular American rock's collective consciousness.

Of course there are moments of weakness that keep Sacred Groove from being a truly essential shredder record.

Like Steve Vai's Sex & Religion project, the vocalists recruited for this project do nothing to add to the songs other than to serve as another instrument for those who tire of straight guitar virtuosity.

Program those songs out of the rotation and you have a tightly focused and extremely confident listening experience for any serious student of metal guitar acrobatics.