Marty Friedman - Wall of Sound (2017)

It's been almost thirty years since Marty Friedman's Cacophony hit the shred world. Afterward, some twenty years since Marty left Megadeth. A while after then he released a shocking New Age albums; Introduction and Scenes. We can say that Marty has gone three different path in all those years. We got a classic '80s Shrapnel + neo classical year in Cacophony (team up with Jason Becker), a thrash metal world in Megadeth and a new born far eastern style in his solo albums. Marty Friedman music has been then continued into several albums starting from Music for Speeding and so on. His new album for 2017 is Wall of Sound.  As expected, his style from this era is a mix between those three genres. Wall of Sound is exactly a guitar album that contained elements of '80s shred, some thrashy riff and Japanese scale that a signature to Marty Friedman.

"Self Pollution" is a thunderous song to begin. As we speaking, Marty has done the most extreme blend on his style in this album. Self Pollution is literally two songs put into one. After a thrashy opening, we immediately jump into a calm, Japanese feel melodic right inside this song. This feature may only be found in Marty Friedman world.

The second song "Sorrow and Madness" is feature with violin playing in it. The song constructed with elements of progressive metal, a new element that has attached in Marty Friedman albums recently. "Whiteworm" is a selected song that Marty produced a Youtube video clip for it. This one has a fluid sweeping intro before the nu-metal-like riff hit it. "For A Friend" is very mellow clean acoustic melody. A song strongly remind us to his Introduction era. "Pussy Ghost" is creative play with modern sounds that fall into nu-metal category. Then we also have a vocal song in "Something to Fight". This song described how Marty Friedman willing to enter modern metal world and reach for younger audience. The vocals was done by Jorgen Munkeby of Shining. "The Soldier" is another very Japanese scale exercise, which continued to "Miracle".

Overall, Wall of Sound from Marty Friedman is another strong released from our ex-Megadeth axeman. This album easily summarized all his adventurous years in Cacophony, Megadeth and his f*&^ing oriental scales. Unlike his previous release "Inferno" where Marty invited many guests to his party, Wall of Sound solely a solo album that focus to himself. Go get it, and listen the West and the East met in Marty Friedman universe.


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Marty Friedman - Wall of Sound (2017)

01. Self Pollution (5:54)
02. Sorrow and Madness (feat. Jinxx of Black Veil Brides) (6:41)
03. Streetlight (4:05)
04. Whiteworm (4:36)
05. For A Friend (3:19)
06. Pussy Ghost (feat. Shiv Mehra of Deafheaven) (5:58)
07. The Blackest Rose (3:40)
08. Something to Fight (feat. Jorgen Munkeby of Shining) (4:46)
09. The Soldier (3:58)
10. Miracle (3:54)
11. Last Lament (6:56)