siLLy puPPy While still in Megadeath, guitarist MARTY FRIEDMAN continued to release solo albums on the Shrapnel Records label after the success of his 1989 shredding bonanza “Dragon’s Kiss” but due to an incessant touring schedule during Megadeth’s most financially successful chapter of its existence he began to burn out on heavy metal and had a major need to use his solo albums to explore a completely new musical dimension that he had never entered before. This began with the 1992 album “Scenes” which to his fans’ surprise eschewed the lightning fast guitar antics that had made him a worldwide celebrity and instead ventured into the world of Japanese melody inspired new age which found him collaborating with the great Kitaro of all people. “Scenes” was quite the departure from his usual repertoire and although brief moments of metal lite still drifted in to the overall equation, the album was clearly designed to be pacifying and soothing as if composing the soundtrack for a Japanese tea garden only with a touch of what came before just to put his personal stamp on it.

Not having gotten the mellowness bug fix quite satiated on that album, FRIEDMAN returned two years later with his next excursion into the world of new age ambient flavored music only taken to the next level with several additional musicians and an upgrade in the compositional fortitude. INTRODUCTION came out at the end of 1994 pretty much released simultaneously with Megadeth’s “Youthanasia” album and once again featured fellow band member drummer Nick Menza in the percussionist’s seat.Along for the ride were pianist / keyboardist Brian BecVar and a few classical musicians including Sachi McHenry on cell, Charlie Bisharat on violin and Nick’s father Don Menza playing the Japanese woodwind shakuhachi who himself was a famous saxophonist as a member of the Buddy Rich band as well as playing with Elvin Jones and Louie Bellson. The end results followed in the footsteps of “Scenes” but INTRODUCTION was a completely different type of album with only a quiet, calming placidly shared as the commonality. FRIEDMAN claims most of the music was written during his endless flight schedule and created so he he could listen to it in order to pacify his hatred of flying.

Defying any true categorization, INTRODUCTION came off as some sort of progressive post-classical minimalist new age lullaby album with intricate melodic developments borrowing an idea or two from traditional Japanese folk musical forms as well as incorporating traditional pop techniques of the American 1950s. The album featured eight distinct tracks that added up to 42 minutes of playing and basically revolved around a catchy intricately deigned melodic flow that implemented the creative use of timbres and musical cadences as the primary methodology of spicing everything up with extended compositional build ons to simulate a verse / chorus / bridge style of compositional flow. The music was sparsely decorated with various pairs of instruments showcasing subtle variations in the same recurring melodies that retained the lullaby effect whether the music delivered an atmospheric new age moment, Western classical minimalism or the occasional moments into the world of guitar based rock that featured the bass and drums with an occasional guitar lick erupting into virtuosity.

The piano based opening “Arrival” sets the stage with alternating parts that allow the music to reprise the same melody only set to differing instrumentation and dynamic shifts. The tracks that follow all offer distinct personalities that showcase FRIEDMAN’s virtuosity delivered in impressive finger-picking skills that culminated the most complex Italian inspired melodies on “Mama.” The creative drop in and drop out effect of the Japanese flute, the violin, cello, piano and rock parts maintained an unpredictable framework within the overall continuity of the melodic process with a few moments of time signature deviations added for the element of surprise. “Bittersweet” began with a detached Japanese flute that slowly ratcheted up the melodic deliveries before with a lugubrious orchestral effect slowly upped the intensity while ultimately culminating in one of the most impressive clean guitar picking solos on the entire album.

“Be” on the other hand begins as one of the most placid tracks of the lot only to make a complete shift into the world of rock with the most dynamic electric guitar workouts on the album. “Escapism” on the other hand nurtures a brilliant compositional flow only to feature an extended improv in rancho relaxo mode only with clever guitar licks offering soul piercing note bends and FRIEDMAN’s obvious deeper connection to the very essence of melody itself. As the album progresses each and every track only offers an utterly instant ear worm with Japanese inspired melodic hooks with MARTY’s most tasteful of guitar bends that sound like their narrating a greater tale behind the scenes. The album culminates in the rather distinct sounding “Siberia” which offers guitar tones and drumming techniques not heard throughout the album. The album delivered all the compositions in surprisingly good taste while maintaining a basic new age placidity without really falling into that world whatsoever. This is the kind of intricately designed mellow music that Buckethead has been striving for for decades and never even come close to the sheer genius of the compositional fortitude laid out on these eight outstandingly beautiful tracks.

Fearing that he was alienating his fanbase completely at this stage, FRIEDMAN would never release these kinds of mellow albums again with future albums returning to the heavy metal basis for shredding and general songwriting. While this album may sound like an absolutely disastrous proposal it is pulled off with so much class it brings tears to my eyes when i experience it. The tasteful use of melodies and how they are forged into a unique compositional wholeness evokes the world of the classical musical geniuses of yore and FRIEDMAN after proving his top dog status as one of the top neoclassical and thrash metal masters of all time displayed how his talents went well beyond such confines of heavy music. This is an album i always think i’m going to outgrow after many years but every time i put it on i’m really just blown away like a was the first time i heard it. If i had only one complaint about the entire album it would be the lazy drumming techniques on the rock oriented sequences but even then they don’t distract from the overall goal. This is an all-instrumental affair with only the beautiful track “Luna” offering an uncredited female voice narrating some poetic prose in the Japanese language thus showcasing FRIEDMAN’s fascination with the Japanese culture almost a decade before he would permanently relocate there. Pure genius this one!