Description

Official Turkish licensed pressed cassette on Yucel Muzik. Yucel was a small underground cassette label that released 21 cassettes between 1998 and 2001, before calling it a day. Clear cassette with grey text

The fourth solo release from Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman finds the guitarist mostly repeating the same formula that worked so well on Introduction. This time around, though, there is less emphasis on new age styling’s in favour of a more rock-oriented approach. With the exception of the impressive “Rio” and “Farewell,” there isn’t much space here, which he used so well previously. There is also fewer solo space for his accompanying musicians, which is a shame as we found an impressive guests of musicians like Jimmy Haslip, Tony Franklin, Carmin Appice, Gregg Bissionette, his Megadeth companion Nick Menza etc. The vocal tracks “Last September” and “Live And Learn” may have been attempts to add variety; however, the bland arrangements and vocals, by Stanley Clarke, just add to the session’s unevenness. The session’s best track, “Intoxicated,” offers a glimpse of what Friedman could sound like if he shelved some of his stereotypical metal riffing. It wasn’t likely that Friedman would top Introduction, but it wasn’t expected that this cerebral guitarist would show signs of stagnation and even regression. However heavy metal fans and those who prefer Friedman’s metal riffs should go for this one.

Track list:
1. Rock Box
2. Espionage
3. Last September
4. Intoxicated
5. Shine On Me
6. Hands Of Time
7. Rio
8. Live And Learn
9. Glowing Path
10. The Yearning
11. Farewell