V/A - Shredding Across The World Volume III |
Published March 29 2010
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Kikakata |
| Genre | Guitar shredding |
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 17 |
(see review)
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 68 Min. |
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Guitar
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| Label | Shredguy Records |
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Bass
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| Release | 03 July 2009 |
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Drums
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| Country | USA |
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Shredders of all types | ||
Ok, I normally write my reviews with a bit more storytelling, but this time I will do a song-by-song walk-through of this, the third, compilation from new guitar oriented label Shredguy Records. I have the utmost respect for this label, for Michael McDowell's hard work, passion and effort, but… there are some serious issues when it comes to the quality of some of the stuff presented on this compilation. I really liked the first two (not because I was on the second myself, but anyway), but I have some issues here. Anyway, let's run them through.
Andrew Danso - Boring programmed drums, Quite uninteresting soloing without a goal. Rob Johnson - More programmed drums, but at least a great guitarist. Kendall Bechtel - More programmed drums, but here's a great, gifted guitarist with a killer tone. He's also got some nice melodies going on. Tracy G Group - Not sure what the thing is with Tracy G. He mostly makes just a horrible noise with no melodic structure or actual playing... and he never stops once he gets in to a solo groove with the same friggin programmed background over and over and over. After 5 minutes I had more than enough.
Richard Tull - Programmed drums, but a great guitarist even if the song didn't hit me all that hard. Gary Schutt - A very gifted musician whose solo stuff is well worth checking out. A bit too techno for me, but great playing. Love his bluesy side. Danny Joe Carter - more programmed drums. Decent technical bluesy playing from this guy. Chris Lasegue - Even more HORRIBLE programmed drums. Badly mixed with the keyboard off. However he's a decent guitarist. Sean Baker - Wow, first track with a REAL drummer! Great technical guitarist, but a slightly anonymous song.
Jonas Tamas - I have a few of his albums and the cat can play! Boring drums AGAIN, but a pretty good tune! Claudio Cruz - Strange mix, this time with real drums. Slightly disappointing because of some sloppy playing. Steve Bello - Another disappointment. Horrible mix, uninteresting track, Thrashy but without a goal to the track. Adrian English - I did have some issues with this cat's olo album, but this track is pretty ok. Lino - Now here's definitely the best track on the album! Very Satriani meets Blues Saraceno, with great melodies and a nice tone. Great song and… real drums! Matthew Mills - Horrible mix and more programmed drums. Great technique, but quite an uninteresting track.
Chris Sheridan - Horrible playing and even worse sound, more programmed drums. Final bonus track, which clearly doesn't add anything to the album. Chris Storey - Worst mix ever with some horrible playing and programmed drums from hell. Why? Now seriously folks, have real live drummers been extinguished? I can definitely see the use for programmed drums when composing. I do it a lot myself, but when you release a track to the public, get a real drummer with some groove! I absolutely HATE programmed drums, especially when you can hear there's no effort put into it, just a loop and the standard sounds. IF you're gonna use programmed drums and get away with it, put the same effort into programming the drums as you do recording your guitar. At least for me it's supposed to be a song, not some guitar show case.
There are some really gifted players on this album that
have done, and can do AWESOME stuff, but I didn't see that much of it
here I'm afraid. The grades below are the average of all tracks, meaning
some players are 8-9 in performance while others are 2-3.
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Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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6 |
6 |
5 |
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6 |
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Summary
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6 chalices of 10 - Stark |
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