Rob Johnson - Shredworx |
Published January 18 2009
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Forcefield* |
| Genre | Shredding! |
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Vocals
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| Tracks | 12 |
Rob Johnson
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Guitar
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| Runningtime | 68 Min. |
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Guitar
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| Label | Shredguy Records |
Rob Johnson
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Bass
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| Release | 23 July 2008 |
Rob Johnson
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Drums
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| Country | USA |
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Keyboard
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| Similar artists | Haji's Kitchen, Scott Stine, Magnitude 9 | ||
American guitarist Rob Johnson may not be a household name like Satriani, Vai or MacAlpine. He however has produced quite a lot of interesting stuff such as three solo albums, three albums with progressive metallurgists Magnitude 9 and quite recently the debut by modern heavy rockers Saddleback Shark. Besides this, he has also released a couple of guitar instructional DVDs.
"Shredworx" is a well compiled collection of songs from all of Rob's solo albums, plus some other stuff. What I like about Rob, besides his spotless guitar playing, is that he knows how to get a groove into a song. Stylewise I can't help comparing him to Scott Stine, and some of Rob's songs, such as the heavy, dropped tuning riffsters "Supercharged", "Dance Of The Monster Gods" and "Gravity Pulling Me" are also in the same musical vein as Scott's old band Haji's Kitchen.
Rob has a great technique, but also great feel and a round, singing guitar tone I really like - he seems to like the neck pick-up. Rob has a great melodic feel and he's not afraid to throw in some nice harmonies, something he shows already in opener "Forcefield". In the strutting "Soul Chuckle" he proves he's got a well balanced sense of humour with some brief loop sequences thrown in here and there. Besides heavy riffs and an intense shredding Rob also shows he has a softer and more melodic side, for example in the intro of "Subliminal Dream".
After thirteen instrumental songs the album ends with two vocal tracks, where "End Of Days" is an awesome old Magnitude 9 track and "Blistered" is picked from the recently released Saddleback Shark. I can highly recommend all of Rob's albums, but this is a really good place to start!
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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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8 |
7 |
8 |
8/6 |
7 |
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Summary
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8 chalices of 10 - Stark |
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