Rob Johnson - Shredworx (2008) Shredguy Records

Rob Johnson is an American 7-string guitarist well-known from Magnitude 9 and Saddleback Shark. He also cooperated with MVP (Michael Vescera Project) and Lars Eric Mattsson. He has three solo albums on his account: „Rob Johnson“, „Peripheral“ and „Guitarchitecture“. „Shredworx“ is the collection of Rob Johnson’s solo compositions (the most from “Guitarchitecture“) as well as a few new ones and those recorded with Magnitude 9 and Saddleback Shark.

Rob Johnson derives from the shredding school of Steve Vai and Paul Gilbert, so we can expect not only very fast fingering, but also a great dose of melody. One of the most characteristic elements of Rob’s music is powerful sound and forcibly played guitar parts. Rob is a kind of passionate instrumentalist who plays with the total commitment. His fingers jump as on the guitar neck as rabbits on a field. His fingers slip on strings with grace and producing catchy melodies. There are also some improvised and bit experimental gambits, however the whole album includes nicely listenable guitar music without instrumental redundancy. The last two tracks are those recorded alongside Magnitude 9 („End of Days“ from „Reality in Focus“, 2000) and Saddleback Shark („Blistered" from „The Killing System“, 1996/2008). These compositions prove how versatile musician Rob Johnson is. The first track is melodic progressive metal with great vocal lines by Corey Brown, and the latter one is shredding thrash metal with groove sound. The first one makes me think of Symphony X and Outworld, the second one resembles Megadeth (with Marty Friedman) blended with Pantera. „Shredworx“ is a very good guiderelease helping listeners with reach out for Rob’s solo albums as well as those registered with other groups.

Saddleback Shark - The Killing System (2008) Shredguy Records

Saddleback Shark is an American band founded in the year 1990. Their first album was self-titled, and the second release was titled „Machinegun Raindance“. „The Killing System“ was originally published in 1996 by Aftershock Records and re-released in 2008 by Shredguy Records. The band are four members: Drew Collins (vocals), Rob Johnson (guitar; Magnitude 9, MVP, Mattsson, Michael Vescera), Gil Graham (bass guitar) and John Homan (drums; Magnitude 9, Project Alcazar).

Saddleback Shark play a kind of technical metal with thrashing verve, sonic heaviness and vocal aggression. Drew’s singing is simply furious and coarse. Obviously, there are sharp and insane shredding guitar solos by Rob Johnson, however they are only additive. The fundament of the albums is grounded on rhythmical and groovy riffs, apocalyptic and chaotic tones, fiery accelerations and the wall of heavy sound produced by all instruments. I would sincerely recommend „The Killing System“ to these listeners who like the works of Pantera, Megadeth and Anthrax. This music is not meant for polite girls, it is absolutely for bad boys... and naturally bad girls.

The Fractured Dimension - Towards the Mysterium (2008) Self-released

This American band, of a very weird name, was founded by three musicians: a Musicians Institute graduate Alex Arellano - Malca (drums; Power of Omens), Jimmy Pitts (keyboards, piano; Super String Theory, Scholomance, S.K. Krow) and Jerry Twyford (bass, percussion; Scholomance, Super String Theory, Weedeater, Mars).

Their debut album is chiefly inspired by the music and artistic activity of Russian composer - Alexander Scriabin - one of the main representatives of Russian symbolism in music. This composer lived at the turn of 19th and 20th century, when other significant trends were romanticism and expressionism. Alexander Scriabin is the main character on the album, that’s why his composition „Strangeness“ appeared on the tracklist. Obviously, the trio makes other references to famous people from the circle of science like to Leonardo Fibonacci (Italian mathematician who lived at the turn of 12th and 13th century) and Nicolas Slonimsky (American musicologist and composer of Russian origin who passed away at the age of 101).

Push UK - Strange World (2010) AOR Blvd Records

Looking at the abbreviation above, you can guess that this Push is a British band, but the most adequate qualification will be regarded this group as British-American. Push’s vocalist - David Saylor comes from the USA, that’s why it’s advisable to be formally correct. His vocal parts can also be heard on other UK melodic rock bands like Atlantic's „Power“ (1994) and Siam’s „Language of Menace“ (1994). The remaining instrumentals come from the United Kingdom: Brett Hammond (guitars, keyboards; Orion, Big Mouth, Presidents of the USA, Tracey Bonham), Paul Pryor (bass guitar; Orion, Road Kings, Ruby Turner) and Rob Hewins (drums; Sidewinder, Tony Mills, Siam, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash).

Nicolandia - Playlist No. 18 (02.02.2010)

01. Blackwood Creek - Nothing But The Sun

Aforesaid band was founded by brothers Winger - Nate (drums, vocals; Ratt, Kix, Europe) and Kip (bass guitar, keyboards, vocals) in their youthful years. The idea of Blackwood Creek was reformed in 2007, and the self-titled debut was released alongside Peter Fletcher (guitar, vocals; Pigmy Love Circus) in the year 2009. The trio play an unsophisticated kind of hard rock.

02. Jeff Scott Soto - Drowning (Live)

03. Jeff Scott Soto - Eyes of Love (Live)

04. Jeff Scott Soto - I’ll Be Waiting (Talisman's cover) (Live)

Jess Scott Soto is well known from such bands like Journey, Talisman, Soul Sirkus or Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force. His solo debut „Love Parade“ was released in 1995 and re-released in 2002 by Frontiers Records. Jeff (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards) performed live with the band at Sala Heineken on April 18th, 2009. This gig was registered and its result is 2-disc live album „One Night in Madrid“ (2009). It includes tracks from Soto’s solo releases and those recorded with Talisman plus a cut from the movie „Rock Star“. The line-up is made up of Jorge Salan (lead guitar, vocals), BJ (lead guitar, vocals), Fernando Mainer (bass guitar, vocals) and Edu Cominato (drums, vocals). This material includes melodic rock with bluesy feeling and medleys at some moments. If you like plays with music, this live release will appeal to you.

05. Los Angeles - Wait For You

06. Los Angeles - Living Inside

This band was founded in 2007 by two Italians: Michele Luppi (vocal; Vision Divine, Killing Touch) and Farbrizio Grossi (bass guitar, programming; Glenn Hughes, From the Inside, Vertigo). Luppi’s vocal coach was a famous Robin Randa - the man who co-wrote hits for the likes of FM, Mark Free, James Christian etc. Los Angeles’ self-titled debut was published in the year of band’s founding, and its successor was launched in 2009 and titled „Neverland“. All songs are originals with the exception of Richard Marx’s „Nothing to Hide“. Apart from the mentioned artists, the second album was recorded with the help of some guitarists (George Lynch of Dokken, Tommy Denander, Joey Sykes of Hugo, Roberto Priori), keyboardist Eric Ragno (China Blue, Ramos) and Tony Morra (drums).

07. On The Rise - Lifeline

08. On The Rise - Lost Your Track

09. On The Rise - Why Wait Another Day

10. On The Rise - Find A Way

This Norwegian AOR/Melodic Rock band was founded in the beginning of 2000 and debuted with the self-titled release three years later. The head of the band has always been Terje Eide (lead vocal, guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, backing vocals; Heaven & Hell, The Heat), however the second album „Dream Zone“ (2009) was recorded together with Erik Engebretsen (drums), Christian Wolff (keyboards, bass, lead & acoustic guitar) and Eric Ragno (piano, keyboards).

11. Spin Gallery - Just A Momentary Why

12. Spin Gallery - Eyes Wide Open

13. Spin Gallery - Indulge

Spin Gallery is a project of the two - Kristoffer Lagerström (lead & backing vocals) and Tommy Denander (guitars, keyboards, bass guitar, loopsù). They demoed some songs in 1997 and recorded the debut „Standing Tall“ only in 2004. There were not only Spin Gallery’s tracks, but also one track - „Grace“ originally appeared on Radioactive’s „Ceremony of Innocence“. The second album „Embrace“ saw the daylight in 2009 with some great guests: Robin Beck (lead vocals), Dan Reed (lead vocals; Dan Reed Network), Glen Marks (live and VR drums, percussion) and Marika Wilstedt (cello).

Radio Broadcast on Radio Aktywne.

Ennio Morricone - L’Ultimo Treno Della Notte (OST) (2009) Cinevox Record

„L’Ultimo Treno Della Notte“ (also known as „Violenza Sull’Ultimo Treno Della Notte“; „Night Train Murders“) is a thriller directed in 1975 by Aldo Lado. In the same year, Cinevox Record released only single with two tracks - „L’Ultimo Treno Della Notte“ and „Coincidenze“. The same label published the complete score in full stereo in the year 2009.

The opening track - „A Flower is All You Need“ - is a love ballad sang by Demis Roussos. It was taken from the animated feature film „Il Giro Del Mondo Degli Innamorati di Peynet“ directed in 1974 by Cesare Perfetto. This song is distinguished by Roussos’ romantic singing as well as characteristic parts of tambourine and choir. An excellent and impressing addition are sounds of speeding train. A listener experiences many moments of awe and threats portending a tragedy. Upon listening to this score, I have the impression of that the evil lies in wait for me, and rumbling wheels of the train only heighten it. The parts of piano and harpsichord represent the fragments of calmness and muffling, however the prevailing part of the score is filled with feelings of tension, terror and uncertainty. It is one of the most differentiating scores by Ennio Morricone, since he references to minimalist and experimental music now and then.