Frelek, Tom: Moment Of Certainty

Tom Frelek is a Canadian guitarist who has been around for a few years having formed the bands Reverie and Third Dynasty. Tom grew up listening to his parent's record collection and eventually enrolled himself in classical music lessons. The hard work has definitely paid off as Frelek is an excellent guitar player and a fine songwriter. Yes, Frelek can play fast, as many can, but he also has a penchant for writing hook laden songs while still displaying his considerable talent on the six string. On Moment Of Certainty Frelek plays all instruments except for piano on "Uprising", courtesy of Dason Johnson and the end guitar solo on the title track, played by Rob Tardik.

Frelek is far from a one dimensional player which he so ably demonstrates on the album's first track entitled "Funk-A-Licious". A bluesy opening lick followed by neo-classical shredding and pure hard rock riffs gives this instrumental plenty of muscle. "Birth Of A Hero" is more laid back with a Celtic feel and nice guitar work. The super catchy "Strength Of I" has a melody that will stick to you like glue and the pretty "Blueprint For The Future" features melancholic acoustic guitar in contrast with slow, doomy riffs. According to the liner notes Frelek drew his inspiration from Porcupine Tree and Opeth and you can hear it in the music. Straight ahead heavy metal can be heard on "Phantoms Thrill" in contrast to the poignant "Uprising" beginning with a pretty piano melody before slowly building in intensity.

One of the album's best songs is the nine minute title track where an atmospheric beginning of moody keys and Eastern guitar stylings leads to heavy riffage and more introspective guitar parts. Plenty of change ups and varying time signatures makes this one a progressive metal delight. A remake of "This Little Light Of Mine" is the last track and the only one with vocals. Although a pleasant enough listen I feel the album loses some momentum as it does not seem to fit with the rest of the songs. However, this is a minor complaint and should not detract you from checking this one out.

Moment Of Certainty is one of the better instrumental albums I have heard this year and is a highly entertaining and varied listen. If you are into instrumental guitar driven music you should like this disc.

Track Listing:
1. Funk-A_Licious
2. Birth Of A Hero
3. Strength Of I
4. Blueprint For The Future
5. Always And Forever
6. Crispy Critter
7. In A Blue Moment
8. Phantoms Thrill
9. Uprising
10. Moment Of Certainty
11. This Little Light Of Mine

Added: September 27th 2010
Reviewer: Jon Neudorf
Score:
Related Link: Artist's Official Site
Hits: 2561
Language: english

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