Music For Speeding - Marty Friedman > Reviews > Music for Speeding

Author's product rating:   

Originality	Definitely a cut above the rest
Lyrics	Not applicable
Quality and consistency of tracks	Flawless
How does it compare to the artist's other releases	Good
Value for Money	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Great musicmanship
Disadvantages:	Not for everyone

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Of all the guitar virtuosos who release instrumental albums Marty Friedman is one of the most endearing. Not genre specific and Often treading ground in most areas of the rock genre and occaisionally leaving its boundries all together, his use of exotic scale patterns and eastern influenced compostions helped set him apart.
Friedman has enjoyed an eclectic career. He along with fellow guitar great Jason Becker formed neo-classical rock band "Cacophony'" in the mid eighties, and although it would be Becker who would deservedly get the plaudits Friedman was noticied by Dave Mustaine who was looking for a new guitarist for his thrash metal band "Megadeth", a band that was rapidly growing. What followed was ten succsessful years with Megadeth which helped shape the heavy metal/thrash genre where they sold 10million albums. Friedman left Megadeth in 1999, it was an amicable depature with Friedman citing a need for musical growth for his reasons for leaving. Since then he has released three albums to go with his four previous solo outings.
"Music for Speeding" sees Friedman use his usual blend of sweep picking, shred, and palm muted riffs to deliver some good examples of guitar music. His unique approach to scales and willingness to leave set scale peramaters makes sure the songs are not generic. "Cheer Girl Rampage" utilises the cheer girl song melody while Friedman plays fast licks and vibrato technique solos with abandon, it has a sense of choatic fun which truly comes across. "Fuel Injection Stingray" is another fast paced rocker where Friedman uses pedal effects to get the desired atmosphere.

The standout song is "Corazon de Santiago" which starts with a clean guitar playing a gentle spanish influenced melody slowly rising. It reaches a crescendo a minute and a half in when Friedman releases the electric guitar and plays a wonderfully catchy, emotive piece of guitar playing I have heard in a long time. It is a sweeping epic that warrents an imeadiate second listen.

The beauty of this album is that unlike many of his peers Friedman dose not go mad with a million notes a second to say "look how good I am"; yes he can shred, sweep, and play fast but he uses them sparingly to elevate a song and thus make it far more interesting. Like all albums in this area it will not be to everyones taste, although guitar fanatica will lap it up. Marty Friedman is definatley a good buy if you want to explore new genres. And the album title is cool.

TRACK LIST
"Gimme A Dose"
"Fuel Injection Stingray"
"Ripped"
"It's The Unreal Thing"
"Cheer Girl Rampage"
"Lust For Life"
"Lovesorrow"
"Nastymachine"
"Catfight"
"Corazon De Santiago"
"0-7-2"
"Salt in The Wound"
"Novocaine Kiss"