Single Review: Mike Milan Dedic - Escape (Instrumental Rock,2017)

Shred guitarist Mike Milan Dedic presents a brand new track and it's a surprise to the reviewer. I never thought hat he would move on so much further with this release called "Escape".

The cover of Mike Milan Dedic's brand new release "Escape"

Summary
Heaving heard and reviewd his previous EP I was sure that more shred-oriented material would come along with this one. The new single "Escape" that comes as a one track download is a explosion of progress in my ears. It's much more song-oriented, there's more of a earworm feeling at times than on the first release which sounded more of a demonstration of the guitar playing abilities of Mike Milan Dedic. 

To me it's more of a rocking number that split's the dutys. The guitars take a good part of the sound but the backline of drums and bass also has their moments when they are able to shine for themselves.

The track feels much better, fresher  and sounds overall much more moving, diverse and changing throughout it's full duration. There's even time to relax at some  parts. A big step forward!  

Purchase-Link and Track Stream
Make sure to have a listen for yourselves. You can purchase and listen to the track at the same link (CD Baby).
 
Contact Data
Finally make sure to connect with this outstanding guitarist via Facebook to be notified of what's going on in the future.

CD Review: Mike Milan Dedic - Mike Milan Dedic (Instrumental Guitar Rock)

This is one man and his guitar plus few other instrumentation. Is this enough to create a good record? It is! Come inside and find out how Mike Milan Dedic made something great out of few elements.

Short Introduction

Mike Milan Dedic comes from Toronto, Canada. He has released a album that consists of 5 instrumental guitar shred type of songs. (1. Energy, 2. Zoom, 3. Run!, 4. Launch, 5. Shall We Dance!). 

The front cover of Mike Milan Dedic's debut record, (c) by Mike Milan Dedic, used with kind permission

 

Summary

This album is quite a surprise to me. I've been a bit sceptic in the beginning. Is the performance of one guitar player suitable to completly fill the air with music enough to rock? The answer came quickly and blew me away. I expected the music to have a lot of solo content. Surely there are a lot of those elements in there. But the album is far more. It also has identifiable song structures with it. I mean those classic riff elements that everybody knows that is used to Rock and Metal music these days and that's a big plus as for me. It makes the songs much more understandable and gives them a structure that you can always follow.

Another good idea was to keep the tracks short. You will not be stressed out with endless songs that you will think should have been shorted to be better. The sound for sure is rough and loud so make sure to turn the volume level at a comfortable one - it helps to enjoy the music much more.

The song structures include besides the mentioned riffs a lot of classic shred guitar. Those are rounded out with particular modern soundwriting elements. This goes most notably for number three "Run!" which is my favorite of the record. The songs are easy to listen to. They are build up like a step by step path. For sure they need a re-listen to fully let sink in all the enjoyment that has been put inside but that's for sure much more a reason to buy this record to quickly have it at hand whenever you feel the need to listen to pure guitar music.

Purchase-Link and Song snippets

The album is available as a hardcopy via CD Baby or online retailers such as Amazon, itunes or GooglePlay. If you're into music of this style please consider to purchase a copy so artists like Mike Milan Dedic can create more music for people like you and me.

Here are some snippets of the album that Mike has uploaded to Youtube:

Contact Data
Make sure to hold the line to Mike via his personal Facebook account.

XII Boar show different side of their musical talent

XII Boar came along as a typical Rock 'n' Roll band to me. Their album "Pitworthy" is a record dedicated to the die hard metal fans and is serving a hefty brew of Heavy Metal mixed up with elements of Blues music. The sound reminds me of a combination of acts like Motörhead and ZZ Top that has been fueled up with a lot of intensive heavyness. A fine mixture if you like that stuff.

These days the band has come around with a brand new track "Black and Blues" of the follow-up album "Beyond The Valley of The Triclops". As the title already reveals it includes a good potion of Blues music with it but as for me it is far more.

A shot of XII Boar's video "The black and blues", (c) by XII Boar, used with kind permission

It shows how diverse XII Boar are able to perform on their instruments. They present a good potion of technical abilities aside from the all too present distortion heavy music is mostly anticipated with through the use of harmonica and acoustic fingerpicking.

The song is taken of XII Boars current album "Beyond The Valley of The Triclops". Make sure to have a look at the band's homepage or use social networks such as Facebook or Twitter to pick up more detailed info on the record.

Live Review: Purple Rhino - Rock am Pferdemarkt Lingen 16.09.2016

Not all the young bands are into modern styles of the hard genre - this one in fact goes more back to the days of classic Hard Rock and Blues Rock of the 70s.

Introduction

I've heard of Purple Rhino several times before I saw them first live. The local newspaper here had some show announcements of the band in their news section and I knew it was one of the bands that could be worth it. But in fact it never happened due to several circumstances that it took until this years Open Air season that I could check them out.

Purple Rhino live at Rock am Pferdemarkt Lingen 2016, (c) by Jörg Everding Fotografie

Summary

To make things a bit more exciting I didn't look up the band on the internet before. I knew of several other live shows that it was more fun if you know nothing about them beforehand and have all the surprise at the gig. I didn't regret my decision since they put on a great set. This band reminds me of classic Rock and Metal bands in the style of Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple.

Especially the first named influence shown through many times at their set at Rock am Pferdemarkt. Guitar player Chris put's on a good signature on the band's sound while the rhythm section keeps it more in a basic tonality and style staying mostly in the background. It should be mentioned that vocalist / bassist Felix also adds a lot to the music and gives it a fresh drive everytime things seem to get a bit in far too deep with instrumental solos. They had this one slow song on their set whose name I don't know of (that's the downside of not listening to a band's music in advance of a show :-). It had a distressing and calming effect on me while I had some sort of thrill all the while - thank you for this special moment!

Purple Rhino live at Rock am Pferdemarkt Lingen 2016, (c)  by Jörg Everding Fotografie

Purple Rhino offer a good mixture of entertaining rock and metal music that goes straight into the heart of the listener combined with sections that will satisfy the fans that love the technical aspects, precision and timing of progressive music. The signature move toward the end when vocalist Felix and guitar player Chris got down on their knees to drive towards each other rounded out a impressive performance which is a good reason for me to keep a eye upon the further band's activities. As for me Purple Rhino were by far the best band on this year's edition of Rock am Pferdemarkt. Here is their current official video to give you a idea of the band's sound and performance.



Contact Data

Make sure to see the band's Facebook page to stay in touch or head on to the webshop where you can purchase their record for a fair price that could make a nice gift for christmas to rock and metal fans. They are regulary playing shows so a look at the homepage is also a good idea. Here are the next dates:

23.12.2016 - Gaststätte Stock, Hagen - Germany
29.12.2016 - Lagerhalle, Osnabrück - Germany
21.01.2017 - Truck Stop, Wildeshausen - Germany
02.03.2017 - Fernsehkonzert Kanal 21, Bielefeld - Germany