Superhuman - Distortion

Hear The Track Here

It used to be that world class shredders (Ed: fast guitarists) were a rare event but these days I'm always tripping over them. That's not to say that I actually LIKE the shredding side of metal because I'm not so sure I do. Too much of a 'look-at-me-going-as-fast-as-I-can' playground thing attached to it if ya ask me. The shreds the thing, not the tune that underlies it. Mind you, I quite liked Hellucination (February 2008) and I was - I think - pretty kind to it. Not sure why a year has passed since that track but that's probably down to me being busy - Superhuman's probably been spitting out tracks like bullets while my eye is off the ball.

What do you mean, isn't it always? I resemble that remark.

The names I hear bandied about uber-shreddies Satriani and Vai (being the most named influences) always get applied to guitarists of the same stripe and many of the comments on this track go that way too. Personally I couldn't tell a Satwhatsit from a hole in the ground but I do know what I like to hear from a guitarist more than anything else; attention to tone. In my books, it's all about getting that tone right, otherwise it just sounds messy and disorganised. And I'm not just talking about guitar tone here, I mean the general tone of the song in which the string bashing takes place.

Like a woman, it's all about good structure (Ed: Oi, I saw that!) Like I need another guitar instrumental, right? Well I do, but only when it has structure, pace and meaning rather than a gratutious display of nimble fingers. This is twice now that I've been unable to level that charge at Superhuman because Distortion hangs together perfectly, damn I even like the drums pounding along like a steamhammer in my ears and that doesn't happen often with this kind of track. Nice detailed work, that's for sure; a track for aspiring guitarists everywhere.

Highly Recommended Shreddies rock.