Nuno: "Schizophonic" Reviewed

This album's gotta be a joke, right? After all, this is the same Nuno Bettencourt who played guitar for that ridiculous hair-metal band Extreme. The man half responsible for the cloying slow-dance nightmare single known as 'More Than Words'. Well, throw away the book on Nuno (as he now prefers to be called these days). Schizophonic surely ranks as one of the year's finest records, a tour de force that moves effortlessly from shimmering acoustic balladeering to thrashing pop.

Although he is rightfully revered as a guitar god, Nuno has turned away from his fret wizardry on this solo debut, opting instead to concentrate on soaring melodies, thumping beats, and genuinely thoughtful, if not tremendously profound, lyrics. From the opening peals of the jagged 'Gravity', it's clear Nuno means business. His scratchy voice wails while his guitar punches out punky chords more in keeping with the Offspring than with his former band."Fallen Angels" opens with a hip-hoppy clang courtesy of percussionist /co-producer Anthony J. Resta, over which Nuno layers a pulsating bass line and a swirling guitar that manages to sound for all the world like a sitar. The bristling power pop of 'Note on the Screen Door' is spiced with a flaming guitar solo and rising vocal harmonies. 'Karmalaa' is a pastiche of droning guitar, computer effects, and distorted monotone vocals that deftly capture the angst of loving a sexual psychopath. "I think I like you," Nuno declares. "I really hate you. Don't even know you."

Much of the joy here consists in Nuno's ability to astonish. His compositions, while always tuneful, twist and turn constantly. Thrashing refrains give way to chanted choruses, spidery solos to Beatles-esque bridges. Most enchanting of all are Nuno's softer offerings, which exude none of the postured treacle of his previous work with Extreme. Instead, cuts such as 'Pursuit of Happiness', 'Confrontation', and 'You' come across with quiet grace. The lush melodies, the tight instrumentation and yearning vocals produce genuine pathos. That's a rare achievement in any genre, one all the sweeter given Nuno's inauspicious origins.