Hey, remember me? It's been an awfully long time since I've posted here - more than a year, it seems, and even longer since I've posted regularly. I think I just got overwhelmed with a lot of things in 2010, and blogging was something that had to go, despite a few attempts to get back into it. However, I had a wonderful time posting about Christmas music on my other blog last month, so I think I'm finally ready to start posting here again too.
The first album I want to share is Daniel Bautista's Symphony No. 1 in A minor, Op. 12. If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you might recognize the name from a post I did about three years ago. This new album has as its centerpiece an original symphony for guitars, drums, and bass. It sounds like an extremely ambitious undertaking, but I think he pretty much nailed it. Even though I was already familiar with his work, I still found myself pleasantly surprised by this album. It's very heavy, complex, and melodic. It's also very memorable - I have caught myself humming and whistling some of the themes from it on many occasions. I really hope that the "No. 1" in the title is a sign of things to come - I would love to hear more symphonies from this amazingly talented musician.
After the four movements of the symphony have concluded, there are a few bonus tracks to round out the album, including a beautiful version of Satie's
"Gymnopedie No. 1" and a cool progressive metal track called "Free Guitars Forever". All in all, I would highly recommend this album to any fans of classical or progressive metal music.
Happy listening!
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