A heavy sounding album from a master of metal!
This is a new solo album from former-Megadeth member and popular studio musician Marty Friedman. It's an all instrumental (bar perhaps one song), all aggressive guitar album. When I heard that this was an instrumental guitar album, visions of excessive guitar wanking, hard to follow riffs and strangely constructed, overly technical choruses. Not a bit of it on this album. The man does metal and he does it well. The first track, "Elixir", sets the tone very well. Sure there are no vocals and it IS all about the guitar, but it's still heavy, it's still metal. The sound is incredibly solid and flows exceptionally well.
I never thought my knowledge of Japanese would come in handy when reviewing for RoomThirteen. As fans will know, Marty Friedman is big in Japan. Currently living in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, he has become a major force in the Japanese music scene, playing with some of Japan's big rock names. He became a regular member of the cast of TXN's musical TV program hebimeta-san, anglofied as "Heavy-Metal San". In addition, he writes for a major Japanese music magazine and a national daily newspaper. 'Loudspeaker' entered the Japanese chart at #33 which is the highest any of his solo albums have achieved so far. The Japanese certainly seem to like him. Normally, this is a bad sign for most bands moving from the west, but not so in this case.
There is definiately an asian influence to this album. The set musicians are largely Japanese and some of the tracks are only listed in Japanese. Track 05, "Sekai ni Hitotsu dake no hanna" is one of them (translated roughly by yours truly as: The one and only flower in the world). The song is certainly an uplifting and cheerful track, with some joyful riffs, but don't let that fool you; the backing guitar is still metal and heavy throughout, giving that solid, angry sound.
I always think Steve Vai when I hear of a solo guitar hero album. Scarily enough, the technical virtuoso appears as a guest guitarist on the track "Viper". Now, I don't know about you but the overly technical, guitar wanking style of Steve Vai isn't always a sound that can be appreciated by all. This track is definitely different. Throughout the album the guitar work fills in for the lack of vocals. This is certainly the case with this particular track. It doesn't take much effort to listen to. In addition to Steve Vai, John Petrucci from Dream Theatre and Billy Sheehan make appearances throughout the album.
Guitarists and fans of Megadeth will no doubt like this album a lot. I would recommend this album to anyone who likes hard rock or metal. It sounds heavy throughout,;with the lead guitar sections filling in perfectly with the backing rhythm. This album is worth buying for the tracks "Elixir" and "Stigmata::Addiction" only. I found myself head banging whilst writing this review. Sure, some people might not like the lack of lyrics; those who practice the guitar might often shout "you show-off bastard!" a few times (I know I did) but it's still a great album.