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The rock and metal worlds have been full of talented guitar players over the years. Of course some guitarists stand out head and shoulders above your average guitar band plucker – names like Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen and for those of old enough to remember… Tommy Emmanuel have become greater than great and are who anyone learning guitar aspire to become. Now you can add a new name to that list Italian guitarist Alfredo Gargaro who has just dropped his new album Various.
Various is an album that any budding guitarist needs in their collection because it is pure guitar magic from start to finish. Often albums created by a solo guitarist can become boring and repetitive but that certainly isn’t the case here. Gargaro mixes and matches the sounds and genres that you hear throughout Various, although to be perfectly honest you are going to get a whole lot more appreciation out of this album if you are fan of 80s and 90s rock and metal… and no I don’t mean to say that as a put down.
That 1990s edge is there for all to hear on the opening track from which the album takes its name – Various. Other pure instrumental tracks like Different Soul and Twister are smooth and do enough to impress guitarists far and wide but this album really comes into its own when Gargaro teams up with a plethora of vocalists throughout the album.
Giorgio Lorito helps Gargaro bring a dirty southern rock feel to Burning Down while Cesare Verdacchi’s whinier voice brings a hair metal sound to She Shark. Other genres and sounds that Gargaro creates on the album are a pure electronic rock sound on Kill The Flame, Deadly Ride has a pure 1980s symphonic metal sound while Exodus could easily have been taken from any Iron Maiden album. Fans of female vocalists don’t despair because Gargaro also teams up with Francesca Messali on No More Free another track that will certainly find itself on repeat on many playlists.
Various is the kind of album that is going to be enjoyed by anyone that loves an album that doesn’t stick to any kind of formula. Alfredo Gargaro makes sure that every track on Various has not only its own sound but also its own personality. While your average music lover may need a few listens to get anything solid out of this album any guitar lover out there is going to fall in love with Various on their very first listen.
