The Spirit Of Radio [Digitally Yours – Rush Cover]

The Spirit Of Radio [Digitally Yours - Rush Cover]

The Spirit Of Radio [Digitally Yours - Rush Cover] Rush is one of the most exciting and creative rock band on Earth and the standard for any music trio.
Bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee; guitarist and backing vocalist Alex Lifeson; and drummer, percussionist, and lyricist Neil Peart left a remarkable mark behind.
Over the course of their amazing career, Rush has lived a lifetime together, providing an influential soundtrack to many of their fans’ lives. Some have been with them since the start, while others have discovered them along the way and delved into their incredible body of work. To quote Dave Grohl from their momentous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, “Rush built their following the right way. No hype, no bullsh*t, they did it from the ground up. Their legacy is incredible and their influence undeniable.” Read more The Spirit Of Radio [Digitally Yours – Rush Cover]

L’Effondras – L’Effondras (2014)

L'Effondras - L'Effondras (2014)

L'Effondras - L'Effondras (2014) Post-rock it’s a vast and vague space and definition, fancy sometimes, abstract and elitist/exclusivist, but unfortunately mostly shallow, quite selfish and meaningless. Instrumental bands and albums scar me as David Bowie is afraid of Americans.
L’Effondras – actually ☉ – it’s a French instrumental trio and when I first watch a recording of one of their live performances posted on YouTube my first thought was early (Barrett era) Pink Floyd. So, it’s not really that “thing” called “djent” – or whatever – and – fortunately – it’s not that bored to death thing called quite elegantly shoegaze (or shoegazing). Although, there’s a little bit of both worlds in their music, but they manage to combine all those elements smartly and efficiently. Read more L’Effondras – L’Effondras (2014)

John 5 – Careful With That Axe (2014)

John 5 - Careful With That Axe (2014)

John 5 - Careful With That Axe (2014) Little wicked John is back and although he’s not playing with the matches, he’s guitar it’s on fire! I thought it’s his guitar, but just like that it might be an axe or a rifle as well – after all we’re living some strange and violent times!
Definitively John 5 is one of the most virtuoso and versatile guitarist of the modern rock/metal scene and he had a major contribution to the body of work of some influential artists such as Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. “Careful With That Axe” it’s a guitar album, he’s sixth solo album following “The Art of Malice” released 4 years ago, but it’s a quality and enjoyable throughout album consist of 9 songs plus intro. Complex and technical guitar solos and chain-saw riffs are both deadly weapons in the arsenal of John 5. The music it’s a vivid mixture of neo-classical virtuoso moments with Malmsteen and Satriani resonances and wicked, heavy guitar riffs.
While “Flight Of The Vulcan Kelly” reminded me of “Flight of the Bumblebee” by Rimsky-Korsakov, the very next “Jerry’s Breakdown” it’s a bluegrass/country flavored acoustic rundown. You never know with John 5 what’s coming up next and that it’s truly wonderful! Read more John 5 – Careful With That Axe (2014)

Joe Satriani – Unstoppable Momentum (2013)

Joe Satriani Unstoppable Momentum (2013) I’m not one of the unconditional fans of the modern guitar virtuosos. My guitar heroes were (and still are) Hendrix, Zappa, Page, Iommi, etc. More recently Buckethead and several more jazz oriented guitar players as Aram Bajakian or Marc Ribot. But I admit, I was quite into “Flying in a Blue Dream”, it was an album I loved and I still do. Although I had listen almost each and every album he played on, including the G3 project and the hard rocking Chickenfoot, I always find at least a couple of great songs, nice passages, interesting parts on his works.
Satriani came into focus when one of his first students, Steve Vai started mentioning his name quite often. His students included Kirk Hammett of Metallica, David Bryson of Counting Crows, Kevin Cadogan from Third Eye Blind, Larry LaLonde of Primus and Possessed, Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt (ex-Exodus), Phil Kettner of Lääz Rockit, Geoff Tyson of T-Ride, Charlie Hunter and David Turin. During the G3 tours, which he founded in 1996, he invited and collaborated with several famous guitarists such as Vai, LaLonde, Timmons, Steve Lukather, John Petrucci, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, Brian May, Patrick Rondat, Paul Gilbert, Adrian Legg, Steve Morse and Robert Fripp.
“Unstoppable Momentum” is the fourteenth studio solo album by Satriani and it’s scheduled to be released on May 7. He will tour the album with Marco Minnemann on drums and Bryan Beller on bass. The album was recorded by Joe Satriani – guitar, production, Mike Keneally – keyboard, Vinnie Colaiuta – drums, Chris Chaney – bass and engineered and co-produced by Mike Fraser. Read more Joe Satriani – Unstoppable Momentum (2013)

Karl Marx Was A Broker – Alpha to omega director’s cut (2013)

Karl Marx Was A Broker is such an interesting choice for a band name, isn’t it? Got this album from the Italian independent label fromScratch Records and it’s an excellent ride into experimental, ground-breaking alternative rock/metal. It’s a vivid and dynamic blending of different tastes and styles from jazz and psychedelic to the so-called match rock and progressive metal, but it’s also a bridge over time, one foot is on the solid ground of the 70’s while the other kicking down the doors to the future.
Strong riffs, powerful grooves and interesting build-ups make “Director’s Cut” an exciting and memorable listening. This is practically the rearranged version of the previous album (based only in bass and drum), it adds new instruments and sonorities given by a new band member’s entry, Stefano Tocci. The powerful rhythm section of KMWAB is now reinforced and reached with guitar and synth’s riff and with sequencer tracks. Read more Karl Marx Was A Broker – Alpha to omega director’s cut (2013)

The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!

Brasilia’s finest Progressive Rock outfit it’s back with a beautiful EP and through the experimental net label headed in the depths of São Paulo, Brazil, Sinewave  the two track material it’s available for free download.
I listen The Tape Disaster last year, and wrote about them because I was quite impressed by their ability to merge smooth and nowadays Shoegaze called elements with the power and explosion of traditional Rock and the magic aromas of Brazilian music and percussion. Read more The Tape Disaster – A Voz do Fogo, EP (2012) free download!

Celldweller – Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol 2, Chapter 02 (2012)

The hybrid fusion of aggressive electronic music with orchestral and rock influences now get to the next level of destruction by bringing in the big guns of dubstep, wobbling bass and frequency oscillations, deadly drops and explosive noises combined with orchestral and rock flows makes this new instrumental collection murderous. “ShutEmDown” is one of the most killer tracks I heard lately and it was used in the Ghost Rider 2 movie trailer. The Latin-spiced electro “Senorita Bonita” it’s also a favorite.
“The Wings of Icarus” was used in the Real Steel movie trailer, while “Earth Scraper” was used in the Assassin’s Creed: Revelations “Combat Trailer”.
Scott Albert, known as Klayton, multi-instrumentalist and the sole member of Celldweller was a former frontman and songwriter for the bands Circle of Dust, Argyle Park and Angeldust gained a devoted cult following in the mid 90s through his industrial metal band Circle of Dust. Read more Celldweller – Soundtrack For The Voices In My Head Vol 2, Chapter 02 (2012)

Cosmonauts Day – Paths of The Restless (2011)

I closed my review about their debut live-demo EP saying that I’m looking forward to listen to their whole album and it seems this is one of the very few wishes that actually comes true.
Cosmonaut Day delivering a quite unique mixture of post-rock, stoner/sludge metal and space/progressive rock with some exotic aromas, original structures and harmonies and exciting rhythmic and grooves. “Name your price” means that you can download their album even for free from Bandcamp page, but I believe all these underground bands from all over the world who delivering quite exciting alternatives for the boring and predictable mainstream products deserves our full support and eventually every penny counts. Read more Cosmonauts Day – Paths of The Restless (2011)