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Artist: Tommy Ermolli |
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Over the years when you just mention a guitar album there is a little man inside peoples head that just lets out an almighty scream and the words of "Six String Masturbation" just come flooding out of peoples mouths at the sheer thought of a guitarist album. But this year one young man will take the guitar world by storm with his debut solo release, as he did on his debut album with his band Twin Spirits and that young mans name is Tommy Ermolli. Anyone who has listened to the albums by Twin Spirits knows what an outstanding guitar talent Ermolli really is and on this debut album 'Step Ahead', he really shines once again and is sure to be one of the guitar stars of the future ranking up there with his hero’s Vai and Satriani. This album isn’t a shred fest, it’s an album full of melody and various guitar stylings, from the blues to the prog, to the down right superb. From
the opener ‘Endless Space’ you feel there is quality album coming
your way, as Ermolli makes the guitar sing this opener and shows
Ermolli’s rocking style, and with fellow Twin Spiriters Daniele
Liverani (keyboards), Dario Ciccioni (Drums and percussion) and Alberto
Rigoni (Bass on 'Joy of Illusion', 'Enlightening Darkness', 'Renewed',
'Magic') lending a hand, this is a great opener to what is a really
magical instrumental album. The
six string bliss continues with ‘Joy Of Illusion’, again showing
Ermolli’s rocking guitar work once more. Yes you can hear
certain Vai-ism’s but what Ermolli does is take that influence and
turn it on its head and make it his own and that’s what makes this a
very accessible album indeed. For
those who like a chilled out guitar piece then the title track ‘Step
Ahead’ is the one for you. I recently was on holiday in the
Maldives and took this album and a few others along to listen to and
while sitting on the beach lazing the day away, this is the track off
the album suddenly became the background track to those lazy sun soaked
days and was set on repeat on more than one occasion. The
album does boast a couple of real heavy moments like the aptly titled
‘Enlightening Darkness’, a real mix of heavy bass lines infused with
a 70’s groove filled guitar bringing light to the dark as the title
says. For
those into that 80’s guitar sound that made Vai and Halen household
names then check out ‘Renewed’, it's one of my favourite pieces off
the album for sure. There
are also a few acoustic moments on the album and one of the best is
‘Magic’. A very special tune for Ermolli as it was the one
that got the album started, but more so because it was written for a
dear friend of Ermolli as he says ... “I started to write the album
in 2004, after a really sad event that happened in my family. We lost a
dear relative in a car accident and so I wrote 'Magic', that was his
nickname among his friends. The song is dedicated to him”. This
track has a real depth of feeling about it and really shines as one of
best tracks on the album. It’s
back to the heavier feeling stuff with the riff laden ‘Taking
Control’, before bringing some progressive feelings to the album with
the mesmerizing ‘Virtual Redefinition’. The
album closes in impressive style with the hard rocking ‘Arrival’,
which is just waiting for a vocal to be added to it. This rounds
off what is one of the best guitar albums I’ve heard in ages and
redefines the genre for me and will for many. |
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| Tracklisting:
01.
Endless Space
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