Striker offers new album Ultrapower with cool rewards

Canadian shredders Striker have already a while ago decided to take their fate into their own hands and to oversee and finance all band activities on their own.

Of course that's only possible due to the constant support the fans of the band have given them over the years. The time has come now for the band to set sails for the upcoming album "Ultrapower". 

The ULTRAPOWER album cover IRL (53.549618, -113.482956) Artwork by @hasr_oner

This time with Josh Schroeder on the helm the guys decided that it was time for a change and expand things a bit. That's why they opened up a Kickstarter campaign to bring in the cash needed to get the new record to life.

By the time I'm typing these lines the goal has already been reached. But besides the reasonable prices it's still a good idea to join the campaign because a lot of cool stretch goals are still waiting to be unlocked, e.g. to have a physical copy with a bonus tracks packed in a special foil cover. So make sure to spread the word around.

Besides that the main question is: how is the music going to evolve? Well, a first teaser has already been given out with a new video single shot and edited by the band themselves.

It's a raunchy styled new track called "Best of the best of the best" that rocks with a mixture of slightly trashing riffs, cool drums, pumping bass guitars and vocals reminding me of classic days where hall effects were much more common in band performances. I think a lot of you will be very happy to hear this again.   

Single Review: Mike Milan Dedic - Energy (Instrumental guitar shred, 2021)

It's great to hear how musicians evolve over time. I think with time passing I feel I can appreciate more the efforts these people take to not let the music become boring.

The cover feels like it comes with a message. What do you think?

This also goes for Mike Milan Dedic. Being a solo instrumental guitarist I met his work some time ago and liked his style. These days he returned with brand new material in form of a single. This time around he laid it down more heavy concentrating on raw solos. 

The song listens to the title "Energy" and I think it has many phases of energy in it like a rocket that travels to the stars.

It all starts rather basic with the drums coming in. Next is a first solo introduction. It all comes abruptly to a end to make room for more relaxed moments and also hammond sounds shining in. 

After the short intermission another break to hand in more solos and far more roughness that climate in a duell with the mentioned hammonds and more dirty guitars end the track.No question the evolvment is here. Make sure to have a listen and purchase the track as a good starter to 2022.<

Available now on:

‎https://music.apple.com/us/album/energy-single/1580690268

https://www.amazon.com/Energy/dp/B09CCLZHPY/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=energy%20mike%20milan%20dedic&qid=1628784597&s=dmusic&sr=1-1&fbclid=IwAR2fPPdvt7oujJbLJj8MqjucPLtUfSONOA6v8BqmuajBcNsQ_Alx-V_2b_8

https://open.spotify.com/album/0QkdmwNAn59LTcGhPuj3XD

https://www.deezer.com/fr/album/251263352  

Single Review: Marc Vanderberg - Legalize Crime (Neo-classical Hard Rock, 2018)

Neo-classical guitarist Marc Vanderberg get's support of Stefan Zoerner, a well known voice from bands such as Strangelet and SpiteFuel. Can such a cooperation of concentrated guitar power and melodic vocals work out for both sides ?

The coverart of Marc Vanderberg's single "Legalize Crime", (c) by Marc Vanderberg, used with kind permission

A little hurdle at the start
The intro is a proper introduction to the song theme. This song needs some "getting inside the sound first" as the sound may feel unfamilar from the "standard metal track". The massiveness of the guitars and vocals overwhelmed me a bit.

Both are mixed up to the very front. Once you've taken this point the new single of neo-classical guitarist Marc Vanderberg starts to unfold it's power.

The vocals take over
It spreads heavy 80s vibe to me with the slightly echoing vocals but without forgetting the here and now. This said those vocal performance of Stefan Zoerner shows more variations in it like ever before. His words feel as if they are constantly flowing though the whole track duration. They change a lot and morph which makes it a pleasure to listen again and again.

This first single of the upcoming record "Phoenix of the ashes" is surprisingly more dominated by the vocals than through the guitar work which doesn't happen too often in this genre of metal music. There are times the vox are more spoken, afterwards they get louder and finally there's a shout out to be heard giving it a alarming note.

Having written this review over a couple of time it's cool to see with reflection that it's this shout out that remained in my mind - that's not happening too often. Like one of those refrains you've heard before and are now searching your brain to which song it belongs.

The rhythm section pushes this power track but is set more to the background. You can feel the beat and the bass as if they're moving from the underground to the top but there's a ghostly border that keeps them from breaking out and taking over. Marc Vanderberg demonstrates his skills with few extra potions of guitar work but as said before they are kept to a limit so they're not destroying the feeling of the music.

Song Stream and Purchase-Links
Listen instantly to the music below in the YouTube player and get this track from the online stores like Amazon or iTunes. You'll push and motivate musicians this way to produce and release more content so it will be a investment into your own future pleasures.

Contact Links
Finally follow Marc Vanderberg through social channels such as Facebook or YouTube. Next to go will be the second single "Odin's Words" which will follow this very friday.

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