siLLy puPPy New age metal anyone? Well here is one of the few examples of such a combo and perhaps one of the greatest style shifts between first and second album in all of rock history, well at least in the metal world. MARTY FRIEDMAN needs no introduction and stunned the world with his outstanding unique style of neoclassical shredding skills with his days with Jason Becker in Cacophony on his solo debut “Dragon’s Kiss” which was more than enough to win over Dave Mustaine and earned him a spot as lead guitarist in Megadeth creating some of the tastiest thrash metal ever to grace the ear drums. After a few years with Megadeth touring and creating metal music MARTY said that he burned out on the whole metal thing and needed a break from the style and wanted to experiment in other styles. The result of this desire was realized when he hooked up with composer and producer Kitaro, a fairly well known Japanese new age artist who has released a ridiculous amount of albums.

SCENES is a strange anomaly of a musical experience. It is first and foremost a guitar album but this is way different than what Shrapnel Records was known for. Much more known as a shredder’s paradise which gave FRIEDMAN exposure to the greater musical world, SCENES is not only a departure for FRIEDMAN from his metal-centric reality but for the label as well and the best part of which is that the notorious crappy tinny shoddy production values that Shrapnel Records was famous for is thankfully missing here. This album is crisp and clean and every tiny sound being magnified into its full potential.

The music is a strange hybrid of exotic Eastern inspired cleanly played guitar scales with symphonic atmospheres shrouding every single note. The guitar playing is very tasty and instead of MARTY’s usual million notes a second methodology, he plays slow to mid tempo arrangements that after fully unfolding accompanied by lush symphonic orchestral type arrangements only then explodes into a harder edged rock and metal with his electrified solos. Everything though is quite calculated and slave to the melodic developments. Nothing is left to improvisation or “unwelcome” notes. There is a clear Japanese influence on this one signifying FRIEDMAN’s ever growing fascination with the Oriental world and musical styles even to the point that his future wife Mimi also contributes vocals in Japanese on “Realm Of The Senses” the most obvious Oriental sounding track of the lot. In case you are familiar with “Dragon’s Kiss” the last song “Triumph” on here is indeed a new age version of “Thunder March.”

If you could possibly entertain the notion of one of metal’s greatest lead guitarists exhibiting his talents in a subdued dreamy atmospheric Eastern parade of beautiful and catchy melodies exercising as much restraint as his off-the-leash shredding then you should definitely check out SCENES for it is an extremely tasty and well thought out album that is as far as i know utterly unique in its experimentalism crossing unlikely metal shredding guitar sounds with symphonic new age sensibilities. I would rate this higher because the guitar playing, the melodic developments and Brian BecVar’s atmospheric keyboards are top notch but what holds this back a wee bit for me is that long time associate Nick Menza’s drumming style is a little too obsequiously laid back to the guitars and sometimes the keyboards can sound a little cheesy (especially on “Valley Of Eternity.”) This is an album i fell in love with a long time ago and have listened to it countless times and it still instills the same thrill and awe that i experienced the first time around. A long time favorite that i love to break out now and again

siLLy puPPy FUTURE ADDICT is the eighth album by MARTY FRIEDMAN who, of course, played with Cacophony and Megadeth but has actually released more solo albums than with either of those bands. MARTY is known for his virtuosic neoclassical shredding skills, of course, but he has been fairly eclectic with his solo releases. While his debut “Dragon’s Kiss” and other releases such as “Music For Speeding” focused primarily on shredding up a storm, he has also released the new age meets metal album “Scenes,” an eclectic symphonic album and right up there with his unpredictable repertoire is FUTURE ADDICT which is mostly a collection of remade versions of songs from his entire career only re-themed into J-pop themed metal. The music actually sounds more like some kind of progressive punk in its presentation. This album has a collection of guests helping out. MARTY of course contributes the guitars, but Jeremy Colson helps out on vocals and drums while Billy Sheehan also joins the party with Masaki sharing bass duties. Jeff Loomis also contributes some guitars and Elizabeth Schall helps out with backup vocals.

While these are all remakes there are three new tracks and two of them begin the album. “Barbie” sound like a grunge version of the “Rosemary’s Baby” theme which is very short at only one minute and then abruptly turns into “Simple Mystery” which is a heavy alternative rocker. The closer “Tears Of An Angel” is the other original track and it is the odd track out as it sounds more like a melodic symphonic guitar song like off of “Introduction” and sounding unlike the punk infused metal rockers that constitutes the rest of the album.

This album went over like a pile of doggy doo in the punch bowl when it was released. This album totally rubbed MARTY’s fans the wrong way and i can actually understand why. For one thing he does the unthinkable by punkifying sacred cows such as “Tornado Of Souls” from Megadeth’s magnum opus “Rust In Peace,” Cacophony tracks like “Burn The Ground” and “Where My Fortune Lies” as well as tracks from his entire career including his very first band Deuce. A novel idea and one worthy of exploration and i have to say that i do not find this album as hideous as the rest of the metal world seems to. While it is probably the nadir of MARTY’s discography it is an interesting listen to hear a virtuoso play J-pop inspired punk of his prior musical output. The production is pretty raw and obviously designed to be that way. It is very weird to hear punk like creations that also have neoclassical guitar solos inserted.

While some of the tracks are admittedly of bad taste and should have been axed from the playlist, the overall effect is not the brutal rape of the eardrums as many would have you believe. True Colson isn’t the cream of the vocal crop but does lend an interesting amateurism to the mix. MARTY seems to have succeeded in sounding like a garage revival band of sort breaking that spell only with some of the technical wizardries that he can’t refrain from. This is a decent album although i’m the first to admit it’s probably my least favorite of his lengthy disco. Tasty riffs, nasty solos and the J-pop punk energy is certainly there. Maybe he’s just completely gone Japanese after living in Tokyo and hosting TV shows like Rock Fujiyama and Jukebox English for a little too long. It certainly made him whacky for this one but hey, he’s constantly reinventing his sound so fear now. I personally like this, at least most of it.

siLLy puPPy MARTY FRIEDMAN displays his most diverse album yet on his 11th album INFERNO. The secret to the wide array of sounds on this one is not only does MARTY mine his entire output of the past for sounds and ideas but also includes a whole army of guest musicians to make a highly successful solo album that doesn’t sound as such. Despite it officially being a solo album this is a true collaborative effort of many different talents on board with MARTY on board as the official director of the project. I can suspect that he may have gotten this idea from Buckethead’s “Enter The Chicken” from 2005 which takes this same approach.

As with his usual solo albums INFERNO displays aspects of thrash and progressive metal with his unique virtuosic neoclassical solo skills in full display. MARTY has been a favorite guitarist of mine for some time because he doesn’t rely on technical skills alone but rather deftly intertwines them with brilliant ideas with emotional depth well beyond the average guitar wankery. There is flamenco / metal fusion on “Wicked Panacea” with Rodrigo y Gariela, industrial metal sounding pounding on “Steroidhead,” the punk inspired “I Can’t Relax,” the John Zorn meets groove metal track “Meat Hook” with Jørgen Munkeby delivering an absolutely killer sax frenzy, the death metal meets melodic trad on “Sociopaths” with David Davidson screaming on vocals, the sublime guest vocals of Alexi Laiho of Children Of Bodom on “Lycanthrop” and “Horrors” which somehow compiles guitar action from Jason Becker who is now paralyzed from Lou Gehrig’s Disease (probably an archival thing).

If you love the high energy intensity of his debut “Dragon’s Kiss” and the Cacophany albums with all the influences from the experimental fusion albums ranging from “Scenes” to “Tokyo Jukebox” then you will love this. I have to say that MARTY FRIEDMAN never rests on his laurels and despite an album or two that gets bogged down in a pool of stagnate reservoirs, more often than not MARTY knows how to up his game delivering some seriously intensely creative metal guitar with smokin’ sizzlin’ solos that blow away most of the competition. I personally think this is one of MARTY’s best despite having a very consistent discography on his hands.

siLLy puPPy MARTY FRIEDMAN may be best known for his decade long stint as lead guitarist for Megadeth churning out metal masterpieces like “Rust In Piece” but it was this album that Dave Mustaine heard that convinced him to hire MARTY to fill that roll. His debut solo album DRAGON'S KISS has been a favorite shredding classic for a long time now. After the two album duration in Cacophony with fellow neoclassical shredder Jason Becker, MARTY FRIEDMAN released his own thunderous roar of a shredder's manifesto. This is an all instrumental affair with MARTY handling all guitars, bass and production. Jason Becker makes a cameo on three tracks and Deen Castronovo from Cacophony handles drumming duties. This is an early Shrapnel Records release and like most of them from the era the production is utter crap.

This is an album for lovers of virtuoso musicianship. MARTY FRIEDMAN remains one of the finest guitarists in all of rock history but on this debut album he displays his sweeping arpeggios, exotic scales, masterful picking and progressive time signatures with a sense of flair and bravado unmatched on his following solo releases. MARTY is all about worshiping the melody and nails it on every move here. Although he can shred like nobody's business, it's his calculated discretion as to when to do so and when to let the note wail milking every conceivable possibility for its use. The music here is thunderous traditional 80s metal with speed ladened licks running up and down the scales shifting moods and tempos in a flash but also contains fair amounts of laid back slow building crescendo inducing scales and chord changes. Every little note is well placed and the aim of this music is to create a pleasing emotional response while simultaneously blowing your mind technically speaking.

DRAGON'S KISS is simply put a brilliant masterpiece of instrumental music that works in every possible way. Melodically, energetically, exotic flair etc. I am so tempted to give this 5 stars because MARTY's guitar playing and songwriting are of that caliber however the production is just awful and MARTY's bass playing skills don't match his guitar talents. A very close call but these flaws really keep this album in the 4 star range. If you are thrilled by faster-than-the-speed-of-light guitar wizardry that worships the melody then this is a mandatory addition to any guitar freaks collection where melody rich metal will melt your soul with every sweeping picking frenzy. Every track on here is outstanding but I still have a few faves. One of my absolute favorite instrumental musical pieces ever is the mind-blowing “Forbidden City” followed by “Evil Thrill,” the beautiful “Narada” and “Jewel.”

UMUR "Tokyo Jukebox vols. 1 & 2" is a compilation release by US guitarist Marty Friedman. The album was released through Prosthetic Records in November 2012. "Tokyo Jukebox vols. 1 & 2" is basically a re-release of Marty Friedman´s 8th and 10th full-length studio albums "Tokyo Jukebox (2009)" and "Tokyo Jukebox 2 (2011)" albeit without the tracks "Beautiful Days", "Little Braver" and "Sukiyaki" from "Tokyo Jukebox 2 (2011)". The former Megadeth (and Cacophony, Vixen, Deuce and Hawaii) guitarist has been living in Japan since 2003, where he is a pretty known name these days, having hosted two television shows, been a column writer and having played guitar with several profilic Japanese artists (among other things). Apparently he has a great love for all things Japanese and even speaks the language fluently.

Therefore it´s not the greatest surprise that the material on "Tokyo Jukebox vols. 1 & 2" are metalized instrumental cover versions of J-pop tracks. The nature of Marty Friedman´s solo material have always been eclectic and at times quite exotic, so doing cover versions of J-pop tracks doesn´t at all seem out of place for him. As mentioned these are metalized cover versions and some of them feature both fast paced metal rythms and heavy riffs in addition to Marty Friedman´s brilliant solo and lead playing. He adds quite a bit of soul to the sometimes polished and easily accessible pop melodies and his arrangements of the tracks are generally of high quality too. The tracks from both albums are very well produced (the tracks from volume two features a slightly more organic sound quality than the tracks from volume 1) and "Tokyo Jukebox vols. 1 & 2" is overall a quality release.

Wether or not you´re able to appreciate the pop melodies and polished nature of the music is probably an aquired taste. I guess this release falls under the "open minded music listener" catagory, but personally I enjoyed the quirky nature of the music. There´s a sort of happy bubble gum innocence to it, that´s somehow greatly charming. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.