The Fusion Reactor #137 - Who's That Guitarist?

This show is chock full of (relatively) unknown - but still great - guitarists. You won't be hearing the likes of John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, or Joe Satriani on this show. Instead, you'll be treated to some stuff you might not have heard before. And you'll wonder why some of these guys aren't household names. The background music while I'm talking is from Suke Cerulo. It and a number of other tracks are available on his website.

Michael Harris - Battle At Storm's Edge (7:00)
Mr. Harris would fit in well with any number of metal shred bands, but seems to mostly prefer to do his own thing or collaborate with friends. We're getting the show off to a heavy fast start... can the rest of the show match up to this?

Massimo Izzizzari - The Alchemist (7:29)
This is simply a really great album. The guitarist from Misturafina's solo effort is bubbling with energy and inventiveness. And it's not just shred, it's melodic too!

Tom Grose - Seventy-Two (8:27)
With an obvious (to me anyway) nod to Frank Zappa, Tom shows off his stuff in the ensemble playing and composition here before letting loose on a tasty solo. Do yourself a favor and read his biography on his website. You'll be glad you did. Or perhaps just confused.

Alex Skolnick Trio - Tom Sawyer (6:35)
Inventive fusiony wonderfulness. Who knew that somewhere in an alternate universe there could be a version of this classic Rush song that was so opposite, yet works so well? And it's not just a fluke, the rest of the album (which, no, is not entirely covers) is just as great, if not even better. Love the drums on this one, reminds me of mid-period Lake Trout.

Alex Skolnick Trio - Revelation (Mother Earth) (7:20)
See? I told you. An Ozzy Osbourne cover, done in a jazz fusion ballad style. I can only guess that no one told him he *couldn't.* So he did, and all we can do is sit back and wonder about it. Or enjoy it, which is my preference.

Kiko Loureiro - Ojos Verdes (6:26)
Brazilian guitarist Kiko Loureiro shows us his fusiony stuff, and boy is it tasty. I'm thinking that perhaps this is the sort of stuff Al DiMeola listens to when he's relaxing. But wait! Kiko is also in the (rather heavy) band Angra! In the business, we call that *versatile!*

Byron Nemeth Group - Be! (8:57)
Byron Nemeth is one of those bands I don't know much about. I do know from listening to Byron's playing that we'll most likely be hearing more from him in the near future. Nice compositional skills as well. I like the layers to the song that make it really interesting to listen to on so many levels.

Martone - The Four Horsemen (8:37)
Not just a song as an excuse to shred, Dave Martone gets really inventive on his "When The Aliens Come" album. For example, this song takes Robert Fripp's octave pedal to the next level. It boggles my mind (admittedly not that hard to do) to imagine trying to play this song. And yet he does. He must practice more often than I do - which wouldn't take much.

Guthrie Govan - Ner Ner (8:05)
Of course, GG is part of GPS and played in Asia for a bit, among many other things I should be aware of. I'm just plain ignorant of these things sometimes and I need to be smacked upside the head with a two by four. And this CD does just that to me. But in a good way. More of that good old-fashioned versatility at work in an amazing show of guitar chops in a variety of settings. Try it out, you'll like it.


Torben Enevoldsen - 1:49 AM (5:49)
Denmark's greatest guitarist and member of the band Section A, Torben flies solo on this album called Flying Solo. Not pure metal here by any stretch. Parts of this would fit in well on a Satriani album, with some nice progressive and neoclassical influences put in here and there.

David Gregorisch - Extreme (5:08)
More interesting rock guitar music. You're not getting bored with this, are you? Listen for the parts where he overdubs and harmonizes with himself during the solo. I love that part. Sounds real, not like a harmonizer pedal. Nice tone as well. Smooth but heavy. Like a ton of peanut butter.

Francesco Fareri - Circle (8:11)
Francesco plays a 7-string guitar, which immediately takes him up a notch in my book. This disc is half electric (like this song) and half acoustic. So it's not all crazy prog metal shred. Is the acoustic guitar 7-stringed as well? Good question, I asked that myself. If the acoustic pictured on his gear page is the one he uses on the album, no. I'm not sure why he didn't ask if he could borrow mine for the recording.

Probably because he doesn't know me from Adam.

Michael Suke Cerulo - Ice Storm (9:54)
Now Suke, on the other hand, might recognize me. I've spoken with him in person on a few occasions. Nice guy and a very talented guitarist. As you can hear in this song, it's a live solo performance using a loop pedal on the guitar. He even briefly breaks out the flute and plays that a bit. Suke also plays (or perhaps "played" but some of us don't want to give up hope that they will once again play and finish up that album) in the wonderful prog/fusion band Schleigho.

Joseph Patrick Moore - Fall [Live] (5:53)
We'll keep things a little bit mellower for a bit. There was enough smoking shredding earlier, these few songs are your reprieve. JPM is actually our oddball for the show. He's a bassist, and while shred on bass is fun, this is more laid back and melodic. I wonder when this was recorded, given the interesting synth sound. Don't know, honestly.

Randy Ellefson - Still At Large (6:18)
Ok, break's over! Back to work! Randy makes his own guitars and that's pretty cool in my book. Then apparently he uses them to make instrumental rock music. And he must find time to practice quite a bit in there somewhere. Next time you're in Maryland, stop by and say hi to him.

I don't know why I just said that.

Patrik Carlsson - Gates of Heaven (5:30)
So what's the best way to end a show like this? I used the motto "End With Something Beautiful." Not that Patrik can't rock out and impress you with his agile playing on heavier numbers(or the middle of this one), but this is a really nice one that somehow reminds me of Eric Johnson in the music style but interestingly *not* the guitar playing.

So that's my show for this week. I hope you enjoyed it and heard someone you weren't already familiar with.