Michael Abdow - Native Alien

Published December 07 2010

*=Staff's pick	House Of Shanti Savage Garden* Eurasia* Tell Me Why Bleeding Dry* Monologue 11.11 Truth And Consequence Tat Tvam Asi (Live) Redemption '04

Genre	Instr. Heavy Guitar Fusion	Kenneth Paul Bend	Vocals
Tracks	9	Tony Whalen	Guitar
Runningtime	37 Min.	Michael Abdow	Guitar
Label	Shredguy Records	John Morency	Bass
Release	25 April 2010	Colin Conway	Drums
Country	USA	Matt Lamagna	Drums
Producer	Michael Abdow
Similar artists	J. Satriani, Chris Poland, Joey Tafolla, Tony MacAlpine

Fresh and up-coming US guitar label Shredguy Records has finally hit home! It didn't take many releases (which some labels still haven't), but with their release of fresh man Abdow they have a solid release. My main concern on some of the previous stuff have been the programmed drums, which I'm happy to say - are out the window. The song material is solid and interesting with quite a wide range of styles incorporated in the nine tracks.

It starts of with a classic instrumental guitar track in the school of Shrapnel shredders, melodic and well played. It's followed by the much heavier "Savage Garden" with some crushing 7-string riffs backing the added keyboards. Nice tempo change, too, I must add! In "Eurasia" we also get a bit of vocals from Kenneth Paul Benda, who reminds me a bit of Evergrey's Tom Englund, which is great in my book. A heavy, suggestive and quite progressive killer track. In "Tell Me Why" we get transported to the land of rock fusion and it reminds me a bit of what Chris Poland does in his band Ohm, only a bit more interesting song-wise I must say.

"Bleeding Dry" is a nice melodic rocker with yet another great vocal performance, this time from Tony Whalen. A bit reminiscent of the long lost band SeventhSign. In "Monolohue 11:11" Michael reminds me a bit of Satriani, which is another proof of his class. I really like Michael's tone and phrasing. He may not be unique, but he's managed to blend little pieces from a lot of great players into a nice sounding mixture. "Truth And Consequence" is another up-temo heavey edged rocker with some interesting rhythmic twists that proves Michael does not only use his songs a platform to solo over.

The tracks are well thought out, nicely arranged and there's space for the song itself to shine in spots. We also get a bit of Abdow live in the track "Tat Tvam Asi". Slightly oddly mixed with a strong leaning to one channel, but still - a great performance. The album finishes off with "Redemption '04" which is the only track not using real drums, which is quite evident. However it's a pretty good track with some nice sweeping and Michael getting into the classic 80s shredder's mode. All in all a really good album, that should appeal to fans of the long lost classic Shrapnel players, as well as Satriani etc.

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
8	7	7,5	8	7,5

Summary
7,5 chalices of 10 - Stark