Artist: Massimo Izzizzari  
   Title: Unstable Balance
   Label: Lion Music

The name of Massimo Izzizzari doesn’t exactly flow off the lips but this new guitar talent's music sure does flow off the fret board with unshakeable ease.

This is the first guitar album of the year for me and one that will be hard to beat as Izzizzari takes his guitar sound to the masses, with mixes from different genres and influences, to produce a quite unique guitar sound is something that is quite hard to do in this ever increasing and sometimes segregated genre.

Things get underway with the title track ‘Unstable Balance’, an eclectic mix of jazz/funk fusion with just a hint of rock guitar thrown in for good measure, and if you listen closely you can almost hear the theme tune to the cult classic Starsky and Hutch in there.

The varying blends of both funk and rock are shown to great effect on the next track ‘Access Denied’.  This track delves into both genres with ease and the mix reflects the multi diversity of Izzizzari’s guitar playing as he brings new light to the whole guitar album spectrum.

It's once more towards the more jazz/funk fusion guitar sound for the next track ‘Wordgame’, then Massimo really starts to rock things up a bit with the excellent ‘Television Man’ and the almost visionary Dave Gilmore style of ‘Freeze Frame’.

Izzizzari shows he can rock out with the best of them as he lays waste to ‘The Alchemist’, as he brings in a little Synthesizer to the mix for this chemical romance between guitar and keys.

The jazz/funk metal fusion of ‘Violation of Privacy’ is next a real majestic blend of musical styles that makes this one my favourite moments from the album, this 70’s vibe continues with ‘Take It Or Leave It’.

'The Enchanted Forest’ see's Izzizzari delve into the Melodic Rock genre as he really goes to town on this one before finally closing the album with another soul searching performance on ‘Teresa’, a track dedicated to his daughter, which brings to close a real master class in what I want in a guitar album, uncomplicated and easy to get into from the off.  

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