Originally published on 6/13/12 by Gltter2Gutter’s Arttie the 1 Man Party: “I honestly had no idea that shred albums were still being released today. Seriously. Oh, sure, Malmsteen, Vai, and Satriani all release albums from time to time, but I don’t know that any of their discs would be considered “shred” records, at least in the sense of the 80’s material released on labels like Shrapnel, Roadrunner, and their kin. I thought shred was…well, dead. Boy was I wrong…”
“Xander Demos (pronounced “de-mus”) self-released mostly instrumental masterpiece in 2011, but it wasn’t until I found out he would be appearing on Liberty N Justice’s upcoming Cigar Chronicles release that I had any idea he even existed. How a man of this musical talent has remained hidden from someone who has such an extensive collection of hard rock and metal (and a lot of label and promoter connections, to boot) is a mystery to me. This man has talent just bleeding out of his hands, whether ripping through a modern-day shredfest like “Right Angles”, the updated, metallic take on Don Henley’s “Boys Of Summer”, or even the more laid-back remake of Chris DeBurgh’s “Lady In Red”. The diversity of the songs, coupled with the progressive song structure, incredible speed and precision of Demos’ playing, and the overall musicality of this project floored me, as I had not heard a record of this style that felt this…complete…since Malmsteen’s Rising Force or the Speed Metal Symphony album from Cacophony (Marty Friedman and Jason Becker’s project).”
“While “Nothing Major” was a bit too keyboard heavy for my liking, the rest of the album was just one pulse-quickening scorcher after another until we get to the album’s closer. “White Knuckle Driving” sounds like it should be on every driving video game out there, and the title track, “Guitarcadia” has a big, progressive feel to it, with all sorts of space-noise sounding guitar pieces intermixed throughout the musical landscape that paces the rest of the song. However, it might be the monstrous “Under A Darkened Sky” that really steals the show as far as Demos’ original material goes (the overall show-stopper is probably the surprise “Boys Of Summer”), as this epic, 8 minute long musical journey features some very dark, moody playing at the outset, with some excellent drumming helping to get things started, followed by some 80’s-inspired rhythm playing that will remind a lot of people of old Malmsteen, a la Rising Force or Marching Out… Rating: Man, what a crankable treat this is! Crank it to 8.5 and be prepared for the sonic meltdown that will soon follow!”
Read the complete review at Glitter2Gutter.
Rating: Man, what a crankable treat this is! Crank it to 8.5 and be prepared for the sonic meltdown that will soon follow!