Marty Friedman, the legendary guitarist responsible for many of the most memorable riffs ever written in heavy metal history, is back with a new album entitled “Wall of Sound” which will hit the shelves worldwide next August 4th, 2017. The new record is being described as “an album that expands and destroys any conventional notions of instrumental music”. It was produced by Friedman, engineered by Paul Fig (Ghost, Rush, Alice In Chains) and mixed by worldwide renowned audio wizard Jens Bogren (Lamb of God, Opeth). Mack, the longtime Queen producer, came on board to handle the mixing on two tracks, “Streetlight” and “For a Friend”, which Friedman proclaimed was, “an honor for me, for sure”.
Regarding the writing and recording process on Wall Of Sound, Friedman responded with this, “It’s a challenge to evolve album after album, especially on your 13th solo album. Not only as a songwriter but it is imperative to do new things on my instrument as well. Luckily this is a challenge that I love. You will find this hard to believe when you hear the density and sheer amount of guitar coming at you from all directions, but in fact all of the final guitar tracks on Wall Of Sound were done in 9 days.”
He continues, “This furious and productive pace was made possible by over a year of making demo after demo and spending more time listening and living with the music rather than just playing it. I had lived with the songs for so long and edited and re-cut them so many times, that by the time I got to the actual recording studio, it was like I had been playing the whole album on tour for a year already. I learned to do this from making Inferno. This is why a lot of artists’ debut albums are so strong-because they have had so much time to reflect on and fix the music, and also more importantly, attach real life experiences to the songs. I feel like I have a debut album here.”
Once again, Friedman assembled an incredible and diverse group of musicians to record and guest on Wall Of Sound. His core recording band is made up of Anup Sastry, a modern whiz kid sharing drum duties with uber-veteran Gregg Bissonette, and Japanese bassist Kiyoshi who is undisputedly the most aggressive female bassist on Earth. Guests include Jinxx of Black Veil Brides and Shiv Mehra of Deafheaven, and Jorgen Munkeby of Shining lends his voice to the only non-instrumental track on the album.
MARTY FRIEDMAN comments on the guests: “Jinxx from Black Veil Brides and I wanted to do something that would shock his fans and my fans. I arranged a monster of a tune called “Sorrow & Madness” based on a melody that Jinxx wrote on the violin. I took his sweet melody and added so many twists and turns that it became a mammoth of Martyisms in tandem with a large side of Jinxx that has yet to be heard by his fans. We are both very proud of what happened.”
“I think Deafheaven is the one truly heavy band that comes to mind when people ask me to recommend something that’s not Japanese! I was super excited to work with Shiv from Deafheaven. We wrote “Pussy Ghost” together and it is one of the most aggressive songs I have ever played, while at the same time evoking grotesquely beautiful moods that I have never felt before. One thing I learned from making Inferno is that when you have a guest, let them come up with music first. Let it be their baby, so they are personally invested in the song. Then arrange it and do it my way, then add more things together. This gives you a final song that really sounds like both of the people put their heart and souls into the music, as opposed to one guy doing everything and the guest just blasting out a solo somewhere.”
“Jorgen from Shining also guested on Inferno and when we finished that song we immediately started talking about what we would do next. For those who don’t know Shining, they are like a steroid-ed out and “genius-level musician-ed out” version of Nine Inch Nails for the 21stcentury, with a charismatic singer/composer (Jorgen) and a wicked sense of melody, that hits me in the gut on every song. “(Just Gimme) Something To Fight” is the one vocal track on the record and it kills. Even after finishing this song we have started working on more new things for who knows what…”
The album’s first track “Sell Pollution” has been made available today, and you can give it a listen in the YouTube link below. Prosthetic Records is already taking pre-orders for “Wall of Sound” in several configurations, you can check them out here. There will be some interesting colored vinyl options, spread throughout worldwide stores, the complete list of them is as follows:
- White Black Swirl LP – 300 Worldwide
- Clear Black Smoke LP – 100 Worldwide
- Glow in The Dark LP – 100 Worldwide
- Clear Black Swirl LP – European retail exclusive, 100 Worldwide *
- White LP – US indie retail exclusive, 100 Worldwide *
Apparently Marty is planning to tour the US once again, as all pre-orders will come accompanied with a laminate good for 1 VIP Meet and Greet with Marty for the US show of your choice. The “Wall of Sound” official tracklisting is:
- Self Pollution
- Sorrow and Madness (featuring Jinxx of Black Veil Brides)
- Streetlight
- Whiteworm
- For A Friend
- Pussy Ghost (featuring Shiv Mehra of Deafheaven)
- The Blackest Rose
- Something to Fight (featuring Jorgen Munkeby of Shining)
- The Soldier
- Miracle
- Last Lament
We will be pre-ordering this, will you?
I have a big family, my happy team: my wife, four daughters and two cats.
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