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.

Full package of shred with first single from Ol Drake

Today I've got something special for all of you guitar freaks out there that love the shred style and find some of the well known guitarists in the thrash sector amongst their all-time favorite list.

Former Evile lead guitarist Ol Drake has released the first single from his upcoming debut solo album, 'Old Rake'. The track features guest appearances from Gary Holt (Exodus/Slayer), James Murphy (Death/Testament/Obituary) and Josh Middleton (Sylosis) and is - somewhat suitably - called "Guitarists Playing Guitars"!

I love that title because when drummers are playing drums what do guitarists do? Playing guitars of course and that's what the guys really do on this track. While the basics of the track are kept straight forward and with a typical riff it's the solo guitar sections that give this track something special. Some of them are really outstanding and leave you behind asking how the heck that might have been done.

You can check out the track below or listen to it on Spotify. Go and check out Ol Drake on this years edition of the Bloodstock Open Air which takes place from August 6th - 9th at Catton Park in Derbyshire, UK. The current timetable lists his performance for Sunday, August 9th on the Sophie stage.


Ol Drake's debut solo album, 'Old Rake' features instrumental guitar encompassing a myriad of styles, including flat-out shredding, classical, progressive, melodic and acoustic.  The album is due to be released on June 22nd in Europe and June 23rd in the USA.

The album is available to pre-order now on CD and limited edition signed CD, and for anyone brave enough to want to try playing the songs for themselves, there's also a deluxe 242-page tab book featuring full tablature for both guitar and bass, transcribed by Ol himself!
Pre-order the 'Old Rake' CD, signed CD and official tab book now in Europe at http://webstore.earache.com/ol-drake or in the USA at http://uswebstore.earache.com/ol-drake

The album is also available to pre-order now on iTunes, including an exclusive bonus track as well as an instant download of "Guitarists Playing Guitars", at http://bit.ly/oldrake-itunes

We'll leave you with a sneak peek of the official tab book (https://youtu.be/EFAm2-6mJkA), and for those of you crazy brave enough, here's the "Guitarists Playing Guitars" tab for you to try! http://bit.ly/1D5ofws