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| Gareth Thomas
The Theory By Lydia (SugarBuzz South Wales, UK) SugarBuzz Magazine |
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| You rarely get great quality instrumental albums anymore unless it’s off a movie soundtrack and even then they don’t have that epic rock sound. Stand up then Gareth Thomas, South African born but now resident of South Wales and rock guitar god in the making.
Harking back to the classic days of Mike Oldfield and Pink Floyd he is aiming to resuscitate the purely instrumental end of the rock spectrum with his self-described ‘Ambient Progressive Rock’ style. From the sound of this album he’s done this. Sounding like the instrumental version of Guns N’ Roses with a dash of epic Metallica it never overpowers quite possibly because there’s no vocalist grunting down the microphone at you. He retains the power of music whilst as he hopes for keeping it quite ambient. Give him a few years and his skills will easily rival any of the best guitarists currently out there. The skills he shows on track 2 ‘Cross of Fire’ alone could be from someone with 10 years more experience than him. It’s really mind-blowing stuff. He manages to mix up the styles so in one song alone like title track ‘The Theory’ he goes from an eerie ‘Twin Peaks’ feel that sends shivers up your spine to full on rock riffs and then moves on to a more laid back Spanish style picking. ‘Majestic 12’ even has a Harpsichord Tudor style opening which then lays way to a full on metal onslaught. This really is intriguing and original sounding music. It should appeal to all lovers of guitar music whether you prefer your music laid-back or a little more hardcore. |
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| www.myspace.com/garflord |
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