Groundbreaking guitar icon, Marty Friedman, has just released his latest solo single, “Illumination,” with a visualizer video. It comes from his freshly announced studio album, Drama, which is due out on May 17th, via Frontiers Music Srl. solidified his status as a unique guitar icon. Check out the new track in the article below and read more from Marty.
Continue reading
Tag Archives: Cacophony
Watch a Previously Unseen Video of Eddie Van Halen and Jason Becker in 1996
Tributes continue to pour out for Eddie Van Halen in the wake of his passing two months ago. A new and touching one has come from guitar genius Jason Becker (Cacophony/David Lee Roth) as he has shared a previously unreleased video of Eddie and Jason together in 1996. An amazing meeting took place on August 31, 1996. That’s when Eddie Van Halen spent the day with a guy who had followed in his footsteps playing alongside David Lee Roth—Jason Becker. Jason had been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease, and was not in good shape. Van Halen came to Jason’s house to give love and support—as well as a guitar—to his friend and to film an ALS awareness promotional video. During that time, Eddie told stories, talked about his creative process, and played amazing music, instantly sounding exactly like Eddie Van Halen even when playing Jason’s guitar through a small practice amp.
Marty Friedman – Moving Ahead Of The Curve
Marty Friedman has made a name for himself for his distinctive guitar playing style within his years in Cacophony and later for a decade in Megadeth. Legions of fans have grown to love his works on such albums as Rust In Piece or Countdown To Extinction, and has made a name for himself within the metal world for those bodies of work.
Since then, he took a left turn and ventured into the world of Japanese pop music (better known as J-Pop) in 2000, after being passionate about the Japanese culture and the music. Following his passion, he also moved there and has been a staple within that musical scene for the past decade.
He released his first new solo CD titled Inferno in 2014, aside from his Tokyo Jukebox 2 CD in 2011, both via Prosthetic Records in North America. He made his yearly Stateside appearance at the NAMM show in January, as well as a speaking engagement sharing his experiences living and working in Japan as a foreigner.
Friedman shares his feelings about returning to Los Angeles, a place he once lived him and any culture shock he faces, considering he learned to speak fluent Japanese as well.
“I feel reverse culture shock. I’m used to living in Japan and you get used to your surroundings, and then you return to LA, where I used to live here and it feels like I’m not at home, as I do in Japan. But I kinda like it. It feels fresh about it. I always like coming back to LA. It’s like a reverse fun culture shock. I get to enjoy the things I like about LA.”
Since releasing Inferno, he is constantly taking in a vast amount of music from all different walks of life and how it factors into the writing of albums such as this one.
“If you’ve heard Inferno, then you’d know it’s a pretty adventurous record. It’s allowed me to tour the world and allow me to hopefully tour America, which is why I’m here this time. Whenever I come here, they pile on nice events like this to do.”
Speaking engagements is something Friedman is no stranger towards, as it has become a common thing for him to do in Japan. “I do a lot of lectures in Japan, believe it or not. They’re often on different topics, not language so much but musical and cultural topics, issues having to do with foreigners in Japan and world topics. I’m not really a talkative person, but like I said before, it’s a way to get better at both languages really.”
He is discovering that fans of his music are discovering him through the internet, whether it is through their fascination of Japanese pop culture, anime, or music. “That’s definitely an important point of finding out through however they find it out through the internet by gossiping Marty’s the Japan guy. It just sounds weird. People do a little research after hearing that and they might find something I did with Momoiro Clover Z or with any of the other Japanese projects I’ve done or my own Tokyo Jukebox or something like that. I do so many different things. It takes one thing to be an entrance and then they’ll look into some other thing like that.”
He shares one of the Japanese metal bands he likes. “I’ve done TV shows (with Maximum the Hormone) and I’ve done their radio show. I covered one of their songs on Tokyo Jukebox (“Tsume Tsume Tsume”).”
While he has done a lot of music within his time in Japan, the subject of Megadeth does come up a lot from both the public and the press alike outside of Japan. Is this something he encounters there as well? “Not nearly as here (the US), because here that’s what I’m known for. But it’s taken a long time in Japan, not to wipe that out…I’ve done so many other things. Maybe if ten people meet me, two of them would know me from Megadeth, two of them know me from this thing and two would know me from something else. It’s all different things.”
He shares his thoughts on the subject and whether it truly hinders on deciding on what music he chooses to tackle at that moment. “I used to get a little bit…not upset but I’m doing all of this cool stuff now. Why do you keep bringing up Megadeth? Then I realize that it takes a long time of doing other things before people notice it. So then after a while, people ask less about it and more about what I’ve been doing lately. So I feel that it’s better. But I’m proud of all of that Megadeth stuff so I really don’t mind.”
He speaks about the rising popularity of Babymetal, a group who have been making waves Stateside and has a connection with. “My guitar player (Takayoshi Ohmura) plays in that. I’ve never played with them but we did some media stuff before, some magazine stuff.”
“I just think it’s really, really good. So I’m not surprised at the success. I’m glad it got found. There’s a lot of really good things in Japan that don’t get discovered and it never gets discovered. They’re not really normal for America so the fact that they’re popular is a great thing and will inspire a lot of people to look into Japan a lot more.”
While he has worked with a number of different people within his time in Japan, he still has a wishlist of people who he has yet to work with. “(It’s) mostly producers. When I get the Momoiro Clover stuff with hyadain, he was one of my favorite producers of all time. There’s also Tsunku, and I’ve done stuff with him but mostly guesting on TV shows. So we’ve never worked in the studio together. I’d love to do music with him, not a chat show. I’d love to work on a song with him. That would be a dream come true. He’s one of the reasons I went to Japan.”
Lastly, talks of a US tour came up and while nothing has been confirmed, he commented on where that subject stood. “That’s why I’m here because we’re talking about touring this year for Inferno. We’ve toured in Europe and in Japan. We played Loud Park in Japan. It’s going to be a really, really intense, high energy show.”
Ghold – Of Ruin
At the ‘Gig of the Milennium’ in Manchester, England, last September, a little-known London duo blew apart a path for Pallbearer and Yob to follow. Ghold certainly left their filthy, mammoth mark on that evening, and carry that on into their second album Of Ruin (Ritual Productions).
Following the path of brutal weight and minimal lyrics blazed by the likes of Conan, Ghold’s fearful cacophony carries added omen; a grimy edge to the fizzing, ploughing bass notes and a gruff, screamed vocal rather than the distant, atonal holler expected. There’s variation too with the whispered intonations of opener ‘Saw The Falling’ exploding into a Coltsblood-style roar, time switches expertly and forcibly executed by cavernous drums for a downright earth-shaking opening. The voice develops into a crackling roar à la Matt Pike during the ensuing ‘Partaken Incarnate’ with chaotic and pummelling rhythms building the atmosphere for a booming mid-section, the staccato riff savage and violent; whilst the clean vocal, reminiscent of Kansas‘ Steve Walsh, shouldn’t fit but really does, and introduces a whirling, psychedelic coda.
The apparent belief in scene-setting is borne out in the sinister vignette of jazzy structures and false heartbeat to the building intensity of ‘All Eyes Broke’, whilst the mashing, uncontrolled battery of ‘Pursed’ and ‘Odic Force’ leads to passages of ominous pondering. The middle section of ‘Odic…’ is an horrific, quickening confusion, sound attacking from all directions and showing an inventiveness to the crawling, evil resonance.
The only issue is the rigidity of tone and cold lack of emotion which the occasional contribution of a guitarist, so effective in the live show, would awaken considerably here. Of Ruin represents the monstrous warrior, unmoved by pleasantry and unwavering in his savage wielding of a weapon, the merest hint of a switch in direction garnering devastating results without flourish. The riff and clattering bass of closer ‘Rid The Gleam’ drop from the heavens, whilst the squeaking of the viciously-treated strings attack the nerves like a prowling psychopath. More adventurous than many such cave-dwellers however, there’s mystique and intrigue in Ghold’s approach, showing the ability to lead and even change the game.
7.0/10
PAUL QUINN
Krakow – amaran
When you’re handed an album for a Norwegian Metal band, it’s pretty safe for you to assume that you’ve been given a Death or Black Metal record with the fact that a new one pops up almost on a weekly basis. With Krakow’s amaran (Dark Essence) though (yeah they’re not from Poland…) what you’ve actually got is a dark and twisted Stoner/Metal album which revels in bleak down tuned slow riffs and heaviness. When some of the harsher vocals kick in you’ll quickly draw comparisons to their native Kvelertak, but Krakow are a different beast, mashing together several influences like Kvelertak do, but with less focus on the punkier aspects and more drive towards the Doomier side.
The album opens with ‘Luminauts’ which immediately sets the tone for what’s going on here. The mysterious and atmospheric opening to the track is an idea which they run with throughout the record. Each track builds and builds until it reaches a cacophony of sound at the end – and for the most part it works very well. The track ‘Pendulum’ becomes a perfect example of this. It actually sounds like the band were sitting there experimenting with different sounds before someone picked up a guitar and threw down into an awesome bouncy riff. They’ve made it sound effortless to produce, when in reality you know that it would have taken a lot of work.
Perhaps the only drawback here is the fact that you kind of know what you’re getting with each track. They’ve focussed on making each one such an epic it might not be the most accessible to casually pick up– old hardened Doom heads will absolutely love it though. There are some tracks on here as well, like ‘Ten Silent Circles’, where the band has actually looked to expand into quite a proggy sound. By this point you should be able to grasp that Krakow do not pull any punches when it comes to trying to deliver a truly varied soundscape – they’re clearly a talented bunch, with each track sounding very tight and well produced but this deviation isn’t one of the stronger points on the record.
Overall then, with amaran, Krakow have produced a solid Stoner/Doom Metal album which brings together a deluge of different influences whilst also stamping their own authority and sound on proceedings. It isn’t the kind of album you’ll casually pick up and be instantly hooked, but with patience and a good few repeat listens you’ll begin to appreciate the musicianship of the group and all of the little intricacies each track houses.
7.0/10
TOM DONNO