Give away (4) DONE

Greetings guitardom, it's time for another give away, this time, it's the pedal type. Thank you Davis GMC for sponsoring this Danelectro Cool Cat pedal & FYI, it's brand new in box. That's right, it's still sealed when it's handed over to me & I kept it that way for this event. So the ritual:

1. Send me a blank e-mail (I bet you know where my e-mail is cited on this page, yes?) with the subject title: Give me metal!
2. Do not disclose any personal details, wait for my confirmation reply stating you as the winner. 
3. Winner will self-collect the pedal at an agreed meeting venue (to be discussed in the above-mentioned e-mail)
4. No deadline (as per Give away 3), try your luck.

Have a good week ahead, everyone. 

Metal assault Sunday

Sunday morning metal assault ✊

Had some playing time in the morning (& nobody's home) so it's as metal as it gets. Had been re-listening to the early Emperor, Marduk & Satyricon stuff so the urge to generate some metal music was strong. The Charvel there is one of my favourite in terms of neck feel. The finish has everything to do with it, it's almost bare wood. The last time I came across such a very thin finish was playing a Yamaha Mike Stern model. The EMGs in there were as metal as it gets- no compromise! Moving on to the second half of the playing time, it's the Kiesel this time. The immediate difference is the fretboard radius. The very flat profile here should be essential for those of you churning out very fast metal riffs.  It's minimum stretching of the fingers so less lethargy in the way. Sunday morning had been good. 

Mader's metal

Flashback 1990s- grunge era. Life for metal heads was particularly difficult; nobody was interested in being angry, everyone wanted to be emotional & spend time playing guitars while looking down at their shoes. As such, good metal acts from State-side were numbered. Logan Mader (pictured center) was with Machine Head, one of the very few American acts genuinely interested in metal. A couple of albums with the band, some Soulfly stints & a production mastery under his belt, Mader now has Once Human. A 3-pronged guitar band, all sporting Ibanez 7-strings & more importantly, good music with lots of guitar considerations. One worthy track to note:

I usually don't pay attention to such acts for a simple reason- there's an over-bearing need for attention, instead of music focus. A good metal act, in my opinion, is one that gets totally immersed in their music first & foremost, leaving the world behind. In fact, the world catches up much later when it's either ready or has exhausted their palatable references.

Voivod: Target earth

I overlooked this album. Was a fan of Voivod since the early days but after Piggy's demise, they were off my radar. Especially when Newstead was in there briefly & whoever came by to do guitars for the band; I thought it was too much but Target Earth made the difference. I'd see it as a come-back release somewhat & the turning point was guitarist Daniel Mongrain's decision to stay put in the band for a while.

I might be marginalizing some perspectives but having someone who knows what he's doing helps. Mongrain is jazz-trained but we won't hear the jazz shenanigans in this context. In fact, he made sure things are purely Voivod from the guitar perspective & the intensity of the music was not lost. So for the month of February, Target Earth & Brett Garsed were pretty much in my ears to & from work. Never dismiss the old guards. A taster of what's on offer:

Metal!

It's about time- PRS joins the high output, in-your-face pickup camp. Interestingly, this pickup is known as the \m/- as indicated (rather discreetly) on the pickup cover. Regardless, we need to know that it's a ceramic-based, high output humbucker, suitable for a selected genre delivery.

Felix!

There are too many right handed wonder-fretters & wonder-pickers out there. More often than not, our southpaw friends would feel a little left out especially when they have no idols to look up to. But here's something to behold: Felix Martin. Enjoy the clip.

Melechesh: The Epigenesis

This is the second release without the sage drumming of Proscriptor (Absu), which does fine but the initial few tracks were a notch down in terms of intensity. The overall release reeks of middle eastern scales, voicings & other peppering which subconsciously bring us to Nile & dismissing this band as second best. That's unfair since the music of Melechesh does not conform entirely to death metal. Be very patient with the instrumental tracks, When Halos of Candles collide/ The Greater Chain of Being, images of endless desert stretches, cud-chewing camels & shisha-puffing oil barons are sure to pop up.