The "Interstellar Café" shred fest is what you'd expect on an instrumental guitar album by a hotshot who pegged Ted Nugent bassist Marco Mendoza and Frank Gambale drummer Joey Heredia to comprise the rhythm section on Earth Tones, Adrian Galysh's third CD. But the California dude, thank goodness, loads this thing with enough musical diversity to silence players with half his talent.
Instead of more tracks like "Interstellar Café," this guy gives listeners a dark sense of foreboding in the misleadingly titled "True Happiness," a good-time hoedown (complete with barnyard-animal noises) in "Defiance, Ohio" and a crying electric guitar in the piano-based closing ballad "Vocalise." The melodic title track sounds fat and airy, and "Ave Maria No Moro" is a reverent and lovely piece. Hell, Galysh even invited latter-day Supertramp guitarist Carl Verheyen to duet with him on the fast and furious "Terrestrial Races." These are actual songs, my friends, not just excuses to solo.
For some reason, though, Galysh messes with the track listing – which only runs to 9 on the packaging but is pushed to 13 in your CD player, thanks to four brief and inconsequential "Sound Effect" pieces. They're not needed, and they only detract from an otherwise impressive recording.
Track Listing:
1) Contact
2) Earth Tones
3) Terrestrial Races
4) True Happiness
5) Defiance, Ohio
6) Planetary Cycles
7) Ave Maria No Moro
8) Interstellar Cafe
9) Vocalise
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