Universal Hippies – Evolution of Karma (CD)

Imagine if you throw a portion of well cooked vintage Wishbone Ash into a blender and then sprinkle a bit of Joe Satriani and Steve Vai on top. You then sift the brew to get rid of all unnecessary shredding. Throw the shredding away and keep all that good tasty stuff. Pour it into a mold and make a nice CD of it. Voila! You’ve got the "Evolution of Karma"! This is the second CD by Greek instrumental rockers Universal Hippies and even though I really enjoyed their debut, “Mother Nature Blues”, this one takes it a step further in terms of tasteful melodies and great song material. There’s not a weak moment on this album and it has a great flow. This is definitely an album album, an album you listen to from beginning to end. The flow from one song to another is just sublime and Stavros Papadopoulos’ guitar playing is nothing short of phenomenal. His feel and tone are just awesome. Not forgetting the highly tasteful rhythm section featuring bass player Jim Petridis and drummer Chris Lagios, who really lay down the perfect grooves for the brew. The mix, also by Stavros, is crisp and clear with a lot of nice ambience. Very analogue and very live sounding. This is an outstanding album, indeed and I’d recommend it to anyone who’s into the melodic instrumental side of Wishbone Ash or Satch, when he slows it down and get his melodic mojo working.

Janne Stark

Country: Greece

Year: 2018

Label: Grooveyard Records

Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com

TOM KOPYTO – Resurrection (CD)

Shredguy Records gives us yet another modern day shredder. Fortunately Tom is using real musicians, no programmed drums and no half-assed mix, which has sometime been an issue I’ve had with several of today’s instrumental guitar albums. Besides delivering a sonically very pleasing album, Tom is an outstanding guitarist. He’s quite technical, yet he has some really cool ideas and twists, which shows in songs like the dissonant Into Another and Naked In Death. Resurrection will definitely file under metal, yet it’s quite diverse. There’s some stuff that gave me an Ohm (Chris Poland) vibe, while some stuff had some touches of classic metal. The excellent Let Them Fall has a bit of both worlds with Tom laying down some fierce melodic playing on top. He’s a got an awesome, clear tone that can cut through glass, yet it’s full of feel and sounds very pleasing. There’s a bit of Blues Saraceno mixed with Satriani, at the same time as I can hear a touch of the aforementioned Chris Poland. It all melts together very nicely giving Tom a sound of his own. In my opinion, one of the best Shredguy releases to date! Highly recommended! 

Janne Stark

Year: 2013

Label: Shredguy Records

Country: USA

BEN GRANFELT – Melodic Relief (CD)

Finnish guitarist Granfelt has previously played in bands like Gringos Locos and more well-known English rockers Wishbone Ash. His solo albums have always been quite solid. Melodic Relief is in my opinion one of his most straight ahead easy-listenable efforts. It kicks off El Gringos Revenge which reminds a bit of Joe Satriani on Surfing With The Alien. The track just flows along displaying Ben’s great groovy playing, here exploiting his more melodic rock side of things. This is a track that would fit perfectly to a movie high-speed car chase. Oh Yeah! Continues the melodic journey, and solidifies the album title. GTR Tech brings on some cool retro sounds, but also guitar harmonies reminding me more of Wishbone Ash. The title of the album really makes sense as the songs are all very melodic, easy to grasp and easy to like as well. I’d call it mainstream, and that’s without being condescending, I say it as a compliment. These are songs that could easily be played on the radio or TV. The track where he really lets lose is the album closer, Because We Still Can, where Ben really lets his seventies freak flag fly with some cool Octavia soloing. It may not be the most musically challenging instrumental album, but this is a really enjoyable melodic guitar journey, I must say.
Janne Stark
Year: 2012
Country: Finland
Label: Sprucefield Oy 

PETER MARTINSSON GROUP – Guitar State Of Mind (CD)

 
I found Swedish guitarist Peter Martinsson when googling his old 70s/80s band Plebb. I found Peter had not only continued playing guitar, but also become one hell of a player! Now his first solo album has finally hit the streets. What you find here is an outstanding collection of instrumental guitar music, ranging from heavy rock to blues to folky rock to countryish playing. Peter is an outstanding, versatile guitarist, who at times remind me of the outstanding Thomas Larsson. Songs like Groove In My Backyard draws a bit towards vintage Joe Satriani, while Shoot makes me think of Greg Koch wacky blues rock. Made It is a cool melodic thing with a slight folky touch. I can’t continue without mentioning Peter’s outstanding musicians, bassist Per-Martin Pettersson and drummer Ulf Becker, who really know how to groove. In J.M.H (which I guess stands for James Marshall Hendrix) he does show some Hendrixy overtones, but I actually come to think more of Stevie Ray Vaughan, who of course was influenced by J.M.H. Besides playing some really mean licks and being a crazy good player, Peter can also write great songs. These are no guitar wanking backgrounds, but actually great songs with melodies that can hold their own and riffs that really rock! Speaking of Greg Koch, the solo in Walk With Me reminds me a bit of his style in the way he explores scales that really raises your eyebrow. I love it when people push it outside the box and make it sound crazy and cool. Guitar State Of Mind is true guitar mojo of the highest order! Get it!
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2012
Label: Grooveyard Records