Psychoteria - I Think I'll Just Stay Home
by Kevin Wierzbicki
.
Can you imagine what a song called "Way Out" performed by an artist named Psychoteria might sound like? Probably something feral if not downright crazy, right? Well sort of. Psychoteria is a hot shot guitarist named Errol Antzis, not a madman, and "Way Out" diesels along like an Eric Johnson/Dire Straits mash-up where Antzis channels on-the-edge desperation, frantically repeating a chorus of "Gimme a way out!!" until he finally cracks, at which point his guitar takes over, allowing a final batch of frazzled synapses to migrate from an overloaded brain to a sparking fret board where they coalesce into a painful scream for mercy right before the song slams into the wall with a cold ending. So yeah, Psychoteria is kinda wild but not in a reckless way. I Think I'll Just Stay Home is very polished and professionally performed and it seems Antzis may have the intention of using the release more as a demo to sell his songs than to further a career as a performer, witness the inclusion of three different version of "Acting Class" where the same melody is arranged first as a funky R&B groove, then as an Allman Brothers-hued rocker and finally as metal-tinged surf rock. Certain ears may be listening to see how they can mold Antzis' material to suit their own needs but the casual fan of guitar gunslingers will be just fine with this energetic set as is; they can place it in their collection right alongside stuff by guys like Steve Vai and Joe Satriani. Guitar maestro Jan Akkerman guests on six cuts; his sizable body of work includes the memorable solo heard on the classic rock staple by Focus, "Hocus Pocus."
Psychoteria - I Think I'll Just Stay Home
Rating: 
More articles for this artist
.
...end |
