The name Gus G is pretty well known these days in the metal and hard rock world, seeing as he has established himself as the guitarist for Ozzy Osborne as well as Firewind. However, now he is back to making a name for himself using his own music with the release of his second solo album Brand New Revolution.
Gus G has quite the reputation with the guitar playing community and really uses this album to show off and highlight his incredibly advanced, already well known, guitar skills. Album opener ‘The Quest’ sets the wheels running in true style as the guitarist gets straight to it in melting his listener’s faces with a guitar led instrumental track. It’s fast paced with a continuously pounding double bass pedal pumping through high pitched guitar solos and tremelo picking.
Gus G’s guitar ability is obvious, as most people know, and it’s almost not worth talking about. He is well established as a professional gutiarist and can play super speed solos and travel the entire fretboard like it’s nothing which, of course, is demonstrated throughout the album. However, it is refreshing that he is capable of writing catchy and tuneful guitar melodies such as the chorus section of this track while still creating a hectic and energetic result. It really stands out and just to create a lovely contrast, the song also ends with acoustic guitars and a well performed acoustic guitar solo.
Surprisingly though, the opening track is the only instrumental and the only track that uses the guitar as it’s predominent lead. For the rest of the tracks, we are treated to guest singers such as Adler singer Jacob Bunton on various tracks such as title track ‘Brand New Revolution’ and Elize Ryd on ‘What Lies Below’. What this does is it really gives a more complete insight into Gus G’s musical ability; rather than just being able to play guitar to a world class standard, he shows that his songwriting skills as well as musical arrangements can compliment and match his guitar playing.
Most of the songs follow the hard rock style, all decorated with various guitar solos. ‘Come Hell or High Water’, If It Ends Today’ and ‘The Demon Inside’ all feature the rough and ready vocals of Mat Leven. All the guest vocal performances are strong and distinctive but Mat Leven really gives that extra edge on the tracks he sings on, as he often does whenver you hear him.
What really completes this album though, is the slower, more ballad-esque songs ‘Gone To Stay’, ‘Behind Those Eyes’ and ‘One More Try’. These songs are a refreshing contrast to the hard rock/metal pounding of the rest of the album, which did get a bit exhausting at times. Not only do these types of tracks give the album a much needed break and contrast but they are also well written songs that also demonstrate a less intense style of guitar writing, which gives more emphasis on some truly uplifting musicality.
Although Brand New Revolution does, at times, fall victim to sounding like a constant wall of hard-rock and metal, it is an exceptional listen. The ‘wall’ of rock is broken up by slower tracks that are cleverly placed as well as the always impressive guitar solos that although always melt our faces and make us think ‘WOAH’ in our heads, always have that individual and distinctive feel to them. Gus G is a truly talented musician and it is exhilarating to listen to him to control and peform and write his own music.
