My reviews of Lion Music's instrumental-guitar releases keep getting shorter and shorter. That's because the Finnish label consistently issues high-quality offerings by virtuoso musicians who not only realize their own limits but also encourage the creativity of other musicians playing with them. Less neoclassical than Marco Ferrigno's 2003 Promised Land project with Vitalij Kuprij and Javier Leal, Hanging Gardens showcases the Mexican guitarist's dexterity while also giving plenty of range to bassist Tony Franklin (Derek Sherinian, Lana Lane) and drummer Marco Minnemann (Silver). In fact, Minnemann's percussive interplay with Ferrigno on tracks like "Temple of Time" and "Night In Babylon" stretch this album's capacity with odd tempos and polyrhythmic lines, while "Sacred City" and the dark "Secret Garden" highlight Ferrigno's sense of melody. Guitarist George Bellas, one of Ferrigno's primary influences, shows up on one track, and Leal takes the lead on two others. (Leal also produced Hanging Gardens.) Mind-bending artwork from Eric Phillipe enhances the package.
If labels must keep issuing more instrumental-guitar CDs than the marketplace can support, I'm glad companies like Lion Music are in business. They give the genre a good name.
Track Listing:
1) Temple of Time
2) Night in Babylon
3) Tower of Babel
4) Sacred City
5) Meditteraneo
6) Secret Garden
7) Varanus Komodensis
8) Closer to the Wind
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