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Following on
from his two hugely successful instrumental guitar albums, Austrian guitar
virtuoso has taken the bull by the horns with his new album ‘Straight’.
He's added both his own blues style vocals to the mix as well as a top
class band that includes ex-Malmsteen and Ark members Randy Coven on bass
and John Macaluso on drums, plus on bass we have Fabio Trentini and
together these four men have put together this wonderful no nonsense rock
album.
Things get
underway with ‘Difference’ and instantly you wonder why Polak has never
released an album like this before now, because he certainly has the voice
for rock and has the song writing calibre to equal anything out there in
the hard rock genre today.
He shows his
penchant for something a little more punky with the rousing rocker ‘Psychobitch’,
which is good time rock n' roll at its finest. However, it's with
his fine guitar playing that Polak has made his mark in the past and with
this release he shows he can still deliver the goods, as well as good
bluesy vocals, on the excellent ‘Crosses’ and the semi acoustic ‘Hero’.
If this album is all about Polak making his mark vocally, then he's done
it in bunches on this one.
It's back to the
rockier stuff with the no holds barred ‘Favorite Vice’ and the soulful
rocking tones of ‘Some Kind Of Jesus’, before the tempo is brought right
down again with another outstanding vocal track, this time ‘All I Want’.
The album keeps
on impressing as Polak continues to shine vocally and lyrically, and the
guitar playing is second to none, especially on the likes of ‘Superstar
Mania’ and the exceptional title track ‘Straight’ which rocks big style.
‘Happy Now’ is
another acoustic bluesy number which suits Polak’s vocals rather than the
more all out rockers, although they are still outstanding songs either
way. Things get a little funky with ‘I Don’t Care’ and ‘Free After All’,
before the album closer ‘The Glowing Of A Cigarette’ which shows just what
a talent guitarist Polak is with this Satriani style track which rounds
off a wonderful first attempt at a vocal album and here's hoping it won't
be his last. |
