Does anyone else like Symphony X?
I heard a few clips of 'The Odyssey' in Virgin Megastore in London a while back but couldn't bring myself to spend 16 quid on it, but I recently got a second hand copy in Tokyo for about 7 quid and its awesome, if you like prog metal that is. The vocals are way rockier than Dream Theater, almost Dio-ish at times and the guitarist is awesome!
I've also listened to Blow By Blow and Wired for the first time (stop sniggering at the back!) WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME HOW GOOD THESE ALBUMS ARE :?::!:
I have always loved Jan Hammer whether its Mahavishnu, Miami Vice or his solo stuff. His playing complements Beck's so well, and I think he's influenced me more than I realised.
I'm not sure if it's available outside of Japan but Richie Kotzens Ai Senshi album is pretty cool too, its mostly cover tunes of music from the Japanese Anime series 'Gundam' with a few of his own tracks thrown in, great tone and playing and Billy Sheehan on bass, I like his vocals too, reminds me of Chris Cornell.
Finally I got Mclaughlins Industrial Zen cd yesterday, its a bit too soon to give a full review other than to say its AMAZING!
His tone these days is so unique, but its quite synthetic in a way (mostly direct to Logic Pro). His playing is outstanding, he's still lightning fast for a guy in his 60's and melodically and harmonically he's getting better with age. It's such a contemporary sounding album, and some of it is pretty aggressive, how about Dennis Chambers and Zakir Hussain both going full pelt on the drums/tabla and John shredding on top? WOW! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
Andy
