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Really great cd...one of the years best.

Heard it all the way through....Cool intro track....then the next 2-3 tracks are kind of boring-recent Maiden quality.
Really picks up in the middle though....and ends decently.
Its better than the last 2 Maiden studio albums....i give in a 6.5/10.
I haven't really had a boner for Maiden since 7th Son though.

http://www.aeonzen.com/fr_aeonzen.cfm

you can here Jem singing somewhere on the album sampler...around the middle

1. The Dear Hunter-ACT III

this is the only cd that really blew me away this year. Brilliant. Everyone should check it out.


2.Devin Townsend-Addicted
3.DGM-FrAMe
4.Anthem-The Extended Mind
5.Anubis Gate-The Detached

A beautiful mess

These guys are just awesome

http://www.myspace.com/officialSW

Their latest album "Mercy Falls" is easily the album of the year for me with only Frost and Protest The Hero coming close.
A couple of years ago they released an album called "Waiting in the Wings" which i got the same day as Milliontown...and they battled it out for cd player supremecy that year.

Amazing vocalist....great vocal arrangements...great musicianship....

Mercy Falls is a concept album too for those that like that sort of thing...but all the songs stand alone well...like they should.

Its good after a few listens...better than the last one....not as good as the first one.

Have any of you guys heard the 4 demos previous to the self titled album. The 4th one 'OU818' was killer...had songs that would be on the first album and a song called Mr Nice Guy which was awesome. The earlier demos were fairly ska influenced...worth a listen if you can find them. Their used to be a really cool ftp site called bunglefever....had everything bungle and bungle related (live shows, side projects, radio interviews etc) It seems to be down now unfortunately.

You can still d/l some tracks from here

http://www.bunglefever.com/audio/demos.php

The first album will always be my fave....just mental and brilliant.
Seen them live twice....amazing.

The reason I like Slashs style of playing over Thal/IA etc is his distinct tone and style (driving chord and note progressions) and his ablility to write memorable riffs and solos. Both Thal and IA (and Petrucci) can play faster than a speeding bullet, we know that by now, but can they do anything else?

Thing is...IA and Thal both have distinctive tones...probably not as widely recognised as Slash's for obvious reasons. As for them just being technique...sure they both have that but i think both players have shown that they both have really imaginative sides to their playing and have both pushed the boundaries of guitar playing just a little bit further. They aren't just emotionless shredders...there is real personality shining through their playing.

Can they do anything else?

Between Freak Kitchen, his Freak Guitar albums and his Art Metal Project with Hellborg and Selvaganesh, I think IA has managed to cover so many styles....Metal, shred, Samba, Jazz, Soundtrack stuff, fusion, playing guitar with chopsticks and dildos, ballads, pop.

Bumblefoot....of his 8 solo albums only his first was all instrumental and another is 50/50. The others are all vocal based albums with awesome guitar playing. Now they run the gamut from crazy Bungle-type stuff, through blues, lounge and alt rock. His playing within these styles usually  :lol:  fits the song. His use of a thimble to tap into those notes above the 24th fret sounds way more natural than a whammy pedal...and his fretless playing is great also.

As for Slash...apart from his playing on Appetite and a couple of songs on the Illusion albums i don't think he's come up with enough to warrant his legendary status. The two Velvet Revolver albums suck (songwise and riffwise).

Now if you'd used the 'faster than a speeding bullet-but what else?' argument on players such as Michael Angelo Batio or Rusty Cooley then i might be more likely to agree with you.

As for memorable riffs and solos....sometimes that is less about quality and more about (over) exposure...not always of course...but i remember a hell of a lot more of the riffs/solos on Freak Kitchen's 'Dead Soul Men album' than i do off the first Velvet Revolver cd.

I like the two albums you metioned....wasn't a fan of the other two....Have meant to check out the live dvd for a while...on the long list of things to purchase

Bumblefoot who?
That's a boring guitarist in my ears...

He's probably the most imiginative guitarist (along with Mattias Eklundh) i have heard in the past 10-15 years.

Examples..i could find

I Can't Play the Blues
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1GlBVIAOH8

R2
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=0YJR-doOWf8

Lost
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=yIm37KpG_TU

Raygun
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=QpbkMhEchx0

I'll get this album solely to hear Bumblefoot's guitar work. I've been a big fan of his playing for over 10 years now. Whether or not i can sit through Axl's "singing" til the solo's remains to be seen.

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