Kiko Loureiro: Fullblast

This album is easily likable, a very influential one in my books. The interesting elements included in this collection of 12 instrumentals are liberal doses of percussion, lots of latin-esque incorporations which inevitably swayed the guitar to play a certain way. Kiko also included an acoustic track but he remains rooted in his fusion/ metal manifestations, all done tastefully here. We know who Kiko is, a very capable player when it comes to guitar technicalities but the tunes here reflect the workings of a musician, not a fretboard techinician, first & foremost. As such, all tracks remain soulful despite some jaded ideas which triggered the memory of Vinnie Moore's Mind's Eye but it's all about passing ideas, not big time copying.

Kiko credited Tagima guitars in this album, not ESP.