John Lowman - Bat Dreams
Rock, Alternative
Canada
Overall Impression: Hard and heavy riffs, soaring lead guitar work, and deliciously dark quality help make "Bat Dreams" an intriguing instrumental piece that fuses a tonally somber sense of melody with a striking amount of harmonic interest. John Lowman has put together both an interesting and brilliantly performed metal track that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve whilst also managing to display John's unique sense of musicality.
Strongest Point(s): The mix of ambient clean guitars and harder more aggressive distorted rhythm sections works very well and provides a great amount of tonal variation between the track's various sections. The atmospheric opening helps conjure up an almost dream-like quality which certainly aligns itself well with the title of the track. A level of uncertainty runs through the song and is obviously an intentional songwriting device to keep listeners on edge, keeping them in the dark to where the track is going to take them next. This feeling is cleverly achieved through both the melodic and harmonic choices that have been made throughout, the chromatic movement in the twin harmony guitar part for instance is both significantly unnerving and tonally dark in nature, reemphasizing the track's feeling of foreboding. The riffage on display is heavy-hitting and contains a great amount of groove whilst the lead guitar work offers a striking display of fast fluid legato and soaring bends.
Target Audience Appeal: Lovers of metal instrumentals will appreciate what "Bat Dreams" has to offer.
Artist target suggestions: Metallica, Megadeth, Dream Theater, Pomegranate Tiger, Testament, Heathen, Jeff Loomis, Michael Romeo, Blotted Science, Canvas Solaris, Long Distance Calling
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About the Reviewer:
Andre Avanessian is a freelance session musician, composer, and sound engineer based in the U.K. Having studied music production and composition at a degree level, he has taken his passion for all things audio-related to a level that has allowed him to become both a competent musician and performer. Being a self-confessed "Guitar Nerd" Andre has been continually studying the guitar, as well as teaching it, helping students both learn the instrument, develop their songwriting, and how to become proficient in home recording.