Inviolate

This is the tenth studio album, released by Favored Nations on 28 January 2022 as FN76702, nine tracks. Sony Music International issued the Japanese edition on 26 January as the Blu-spec CD2 SICX 30133, with ten tracks: it adds Swamp Fairies. The cover shows the Hydra, the triple-neck instrument Vai designed together with Ibanez, which gathers harp-guitar strings, a conventional twelve-string and seven-string neck and synth capability into one body. The opening track, Teeth of the Hydra, is played on that instrument alone. The album debuted at number one on Billboard's Current Hard Rock Albums chart - Vai's first number one - at number 8 on Top Hard Rock Albums and number 40 on Top Album Sales, and he took it out on a 54-date American tour. The lead single Little Pretty and the album itself were announced on 1 December 2021. Readers of Guitar World voted it the third best guitar album of 2022 and the solo on Teeth of the Hydra the third best guitar solo of that year. The running order here is the import CD's as printed.