Like a lot of people I hadn't heard of Gary Hoey until he had the good fortune of having his version of "Hocus Pocus" hit the airwaves. Even today his Metallica-ish rendition of the Focus classic still holds up, no yodeling required. Later, I bought the album secondhand while visiting friends in Santa Barbara.
Animal Instinct is a reasonable collection of heavy instrumentals. Like a number of his peers, there's some genre-bending going on, from speed metal to Texas blues, and a cute little acoustic ditty at the end, though I must confess I'm not a fan of baby sounds on music of any kind. Sometimes it sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughn without the vocals, but fellow instrumentalists Joe Satriani and Steve Morse also come to mind. He's got excellent support from Tony Franklin on bass, Frankie Banali on drums, and Claude Schnell on keys, giving Hoey instant musical links to Blue Murder, Quiet Riot, and Dio. Again, this isn't really a metal album, but Hoey can shred with the best of them.
Hoey remains musically active to this day. Thanks to his involvement with Endless Summer II he's gained a reputation of being a surf guitarist these days. However, I haven't heard any of his work outside of this album.
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