Adrian Galysh - Earth Tones
Adrian Galysh Records
www.adriangalysh.com

Rating: B

Adrian Galysh is a West Coast guitar player who is making a name for himself in ‘guitar god’ circles, mostly for his tasteful, melodic instrumental songwriting style. He mixes it up between rock and jazz but the colors seem to blend more than separate. Galysh is a gifted soloist who has no problem using the guitar to express emotions and feelings generally associated with a vocalist.

His bag contains many tricks and he pulls them out when needed. He can be flashy, groovy and powerful all within the same track. Other times he can lay back and have the coolness of Jeff Beck as seen in the track "Planetary Cycles." On "Earth Tones" the guitar player shows off his passion while "True Happiness" sees Galysh go for broke and play his ass off. "Ava Maria Mo Moro" is a tongue-in-cheek title that features fast riffs that set the stage for Adrian to have some fun showing off his guitar heroics. The most interesting tune on the album is Galysh’s take on the classic Rachmaninoff song "Vocalise." Adrian proves he is a multi-faceted player by dancing between a soulful, melodic tone and all out in-your-face rock solos, all the while staying classy with his musical voice.

Joining Galysh on the album are Marco Mendoza (Ted Nugent and Thin Lizzy) and Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot) ensuring the album keeps it’s rock groove throughout. While the album only lists nine tracks there are a few secret bonus tracks not to be missed as they are as strong as the rest of the album. Take my advice, take a chance on a guitar player you may not have heard of and buy this CD. Galysh puts his own unique spin on the instrumental electric guitar genre that features enough rocking guitar and different styles to keep everyone happy.

– Jeb Wright