Album Review: "Drone Maintenance" by BLACKWOLFGOAT

Drone Maintenance

BLACKWOLFGOAT is the side project of guitarist Darryl Shepard.

Shepard has been in about thirty different bands. He however, has chosen to create a side project in order to get out, well, whatever the hell this stuff is.

Drone Maintenance is the third record by BLACKWOLFGOAT. The previous two offering solidified the modus operandi: layered guitars, looped works, ambient music.

The current, well, we'll get to that later on in this review.

This particular record is a semi concept album, but who can honestly tell? There is so much going on that it's pretty hard to keep up with any implied story lines....that's not really a bad thing though.

Classic Album Review: "Real Illusions: Reflections"

Back to Steve Vai. I made mention in my previous post that I didn't have enough of his albums, well here is my latest purchase. Mr. Vai continues to amaze me on all of his records.

Whereas the previous post was about his current album, this is about its predecessor, and the first chapter (or third) of his rock fable that's told out of order, or maybe in order. He's not quite clear on that one.

Like the other album, it's a mixture between an instrumental record and vocal songs. I think over time Steve has learned to be satisfied with what his voice is and is now comfortable singing on a couple songs each album. It certainly does break up the monotony of the awesome guitar solos. I suppose this album tells the story of Captain Mason Drake as well, but like with what I learned from it's successor, I chose to simply ignore all of those details and just focus on the music.

Classic Album Review: "Buckethead Land 2" by Buckethead

Let's take another trip in the way back machine. This year, aside from just tracking down new bands and new music, I've also been delving into the past to fill in some holes in my library, or in Buckethead and Steve Vai's cases, right terrible wrongs by adding them in.

I can remember first hearing of Buckethead back in 1998. I was at my friend Trey's house as we were trying to get a band off the ground. (NOTE: We didn't.) At that time in my life, I wasn't really a fan of instrumental guitar to speak of. I had gone through a short phase a few years before, and then I kind of got out of it. Now that I'm older, I'm back into it and really exploring the different guys doing it. That's why I picked up Buckheadland 2.

When I popped it into the CD player, I was expecting some disappointment as I was told that this album wasn't one of Buckethead's better releases. I didn't swear at the stereo like when I listed to John 5 for the first time. But there was definitely a very real response.

Review: "The Story of Light" by Steve Vai

The Story of Light

I love Steve Vai. My affection for him and his playing is not represented in my album collection as well as it should be, but I'm working on rectifying that. Mr. Vai and I go back a long ways. I still remember seeing him for the first time in the David Lee Roth videos. (This is the second recent album review of a former DLR guitar player. There most be something about Diamond Dave wanting to work with the best.) Do you remember that triple necked ambidextrous heart guitar?

In this day and age, Steve Vai is an elder statesman of instrumental guitar. In my playlists, Mr. Vai's music goes into to spots: metal and instrumental. Neither one of those categories accurately reflects what Steve Vai is. He is a stunning artist on the guitar. When I listen to his music, I simply get lost inside what he has created. In my mind's eye I see complex textures and landscapes when he is playing a melody line. Though he's often simply called a shredder, he's far more than that. Leonardo da Vinci was simply called a painter, but that was only one aspect of what he did as well. I could wax poetic about what Mr. Vai is and isn't for about three thousand words, so I suppose I should move on with this narrative and get to the CD.

Review: "God Told Me To" by John 5

God Told Me To

Once I started playing guitar again, I rediscovered my love of a few things: death metal, instrumental guitar, and Guitar World. This John 5 album really touches on all of those things.

He plays bone crunching metal, all of his solo records are instrumental, and I read about this album in Guitar World.

John 5 is more than just a virtuoso guitar player. He is one of the most important players of our time, but almost no one has heard of him. His two most prominent gigs are as a sideman for Rob Zombie (current) and Marilyn Manson (past).

He has also recorded two albums with David Lee Roth under his given name John Lowery. He's recorded an album with Rob Halford and more. I know this makes him sound like he's a metal guitarist and nothing more, but he's also recorded for KD Lang, and many others. As a young player, his goal was to be a session player California. Well he's achieved that and more.

Review: "Weightless" by Animals As Leaders

"Weightless" was released on November 8, 2011. This is the sophomore effort by the solo project of Tosin Abasi. Though hardly a solo project. Animals As Leaders consists of three members: Drummer, Naven Koperweis (now replaced), Tosin Abasi, and Javier Reyes who both play 8 string guitars. Both Tosin and Javier play solos and rhythms, so it's not like most instrumental guitar acts where one player is the focal point of every song.

In "Weightless" each of the twelve tracks weaves in and out of riffs and solos, both on the guitars and the drums. In that regard, it is similar to most guitars of this genre, but that is about where the similarity ends. There are no acoustic guitars or bass guitars, but what I found to be the most interesting is that there are very little in terms of guitar effects on this record. Aside from a little distortion and a touch of chorus, these guitars are played cleanly.It was a very refreshing change of pace. I wasn't distracted by the guitar tone and could focus on the guitar playing, which was phenomenal.