For followers of virtuoso guitar playing Joop Walters is fast becoming a household name. “Out Of Order” is Joop’s third official solo album and follows on from the critically acclaimed releases “Workshop” (2003) and “Traffic & Guitar Accidents” (2004). Joop has been involved in the music scene on a recording level since 1995 and, as well as his solo albums, he has numerous band projects under his belt. Alongside currently releasing his latest guitar instrumental album he is also heavily involved with the forthcoming “Shadrane” project featuring artists such as Virgil Donati, Simon Philips, Mike Terrana, Steve Walsh and the Bissonette brothers due to be released the last quarter of 2007.

“Out Of Order” features sixteen tracks of extremely “hot” guitar playing that any fan of the genre really needs to check out.

The album opens with “Broke” a track, which has a glorious neo-classical flavour. Joop doesn’t play his licks like Yngwie but approaches his licks in a manner, which brings to mind Paul Gilbert (Racer X/Mr. Big) at his most devastating. The arpeggios are nailed with frightening accuracy and the elongated picked guitar runs will have all the “shred heads” out there grinning from ear to ear. It’s a magnificent start to the album.

Next up is “American Dance” which moves along briskly .As soon as the lead guitar entered Joe Satriani’s playing popped into my head. It’s not Joop's note choice but his guitar tone. It’s that smooth but chorused flavour that “Satch” uses all over his “Surfing With The Alien” album. What this track does demonstrate is that Joop knows how to rock out with total abandon.

“Anthem” is a big, bold and extremely melodic number with some very lyrical phrasing. Dancing around the melodies Joop places some awesome neo classical licks with phrasing and touch that made me think of Vinnie Moore jamming with John Petrucci.

The next track “Cardiac” brings a new flavour to the table in the shape of a track bristling with incredible jazz-fusion chops. The opening brings to mind the great Allan Holdsworth thanks to chorused partial chords that the maestro uses to such intriguing effect. The solo playing however is more spiky and rocky and sits in the mix perfectly.

“Dropout” blends jazz-fusion with slightly neo-classical touches puts them in a blender and pours them out as a full-blown rock wig out. There is a terrific guest keyboard solo from Alex Argento who really helps notch up the musical hijinks. At just past the midway point the music takes on an exotic flavour and the listener begins to get pulled along on a truly inspiring journey before Joop brings in a fairly dark sounding riff just to throw the listener on a new tangent. Great stuff.

“Harmonic Spheres” is a purely acoustic track featuring some frenzied Spanish flamenco improvisation. It’s impressive but I found it lacking in a main melody or theme to catch onto. However what it lacks in melody it makes up for in its spirit and fiery delivery and it did bring to mind John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), which is no mean feat.

“Divide And Conquer” is one of the albums longest tracks but also one of the highlights. It contains melodic playing and licks, which really demand the listener pays attention and as a result the interest levels stay high. There is great use of light and dark moods thanks to some very cool and threatening riffs, which instantly brought to mind Chris Poland’s rhythm style. The track also works well in the way the leads are played with an eye on what the drums are doing. The play out deserves special mention as it really encapsulates a mood of menace and I kept thinking at any moment “Bucket Head” was going to pop up and take a lead.

“Kindering Spirits” starts out with acoustic strumming which had me thinking of Gordon Giltrap but as soon as the leads began to fly another player entered my minds eye, Neal Za Za. This song milks melodies for all their worth and the playing is wonderfully fluid and makes one imagine that Joop is really improvising. The song feels joyful and happy and as the song reaches its climax Joop fires of runs and licks into the sunset for all he’s worth.

“Heartline” is a straight ahead rocky number with some very commercial sounding moments and a few licks which brought to mind Steve Vai in his Dave Lee Roth and Alcatrazz days.

“Tied Knots” sees Joop riffing on some very deep and low notes. For some reason my minds eye placed me in a scene from a spaghetti western and as the song moved along and got more progressive I was whisked into outer space. The moods and playing brought to mind John Petrucci especially towards the end of the track and yet the music is nothing like Dream Theater.

“Bleed” is a fairly gentle fusion workout with some spiky funk backing. The melodies are lyrical and the phrasing is always just the right side of out of the ordinary.

“Tjabala” is the albums second acoustic track and like “Harmonic Spheres” it’s wonderfully played but tends to wander around with no resolution. It made me think of melodies drifting in the wind and colliding with no real meaning and as a result the track left me a bit unfulfilled.

“Fried Call” has a great opening guitar sound. It’s big and fat and harmonised before morphing into a more traditional lead sound. This song twists and turns and feels like music being created on the fly and end up sounding like a crazy space jam. The note choice gets a little bit out there but at no time does the music feel inaccessible.

“When The Angels” has a rhythm with a very circular motion to it. As the track developed I began to imagine waves of notes being washed against a distant shore and each time the waves came in a different melody and phrasing hit the shoreline.

“Sceptic Desire” sees Joop putting on his stunt fusion guitar head and unleashing some terrifying chops. The note choice sometimes sounds like madness put to music and at just over the minute mark there is a very cool melody line which would be great for a film soundtrack.

The final track is “Aragon” which is very much an extension of the previous track thanks to its use of the melody line which caught my eye in the aforementioned track.” Aragon” however has a much slower tempo and manages to feel really big thanks to a well thought out backing arrangement. It made me think that Joop could pen a soundtrack theme and maybe become a composer of some repute alongside such musicians as Trevor Rabin.

With “Out Of Order” Joop Wolters has put together an album of many moods and superb guitar playing. His note choice is never too outside the box for comfort but his phrasing and implementation show a player who thinks outside the box. Every track shows a player who knows how to stretch out and at times one feels that even Joop might be thinking, “where did that come from?”. Lion music have an impressive and enviable roster of virtuoso guitar players and in Joop Walters they may very well have a player who will go on to be one of their most popular artists. One thing that’s for certain is that as long as Joop Walters is around guitar instrumental rock music will be alive and kicking.