Guitar shredding releases like this are not always a bad thing. Hernando’s live disc here is show’s that his virtuoso style can be accessible to more than just other musicians (namely other shit-hot axe slingers). His playing may get a tad heavy handed at times but he always comes back with good melodic themes to tie it together. And besides there has to be some shredding technique displayed or it would kind of fall flat now wouldn’t it? It kind of reminds me of some of JOE SATRIANI’s better work. He never gets quite as noisy as say NELS CLINE or HENRY KAISER. I kind wish he go for the jugular a little more like those two, but it’s a minor quip I assure you. This disc rocks it out and one could hardly expect less from a guitarist that has appeared on tribute releases for JIMI HENDRIX, GARY MOORE and ULI JON ROTH. BTW, Roth played in THE SCORPIONS; put out some great solo records and is quite possibly one of the best guitarists ever. “TH111 Live” also comes with a DVD of other performances.

The festivities get started off strong with “The Stalker”, “Now”, and “The Edge”. The energy level mains itself throughout, although I prefer the live stuff to the studio tracks towards the end of this release. The closing composition “Time to Believe” features Hernando’s sole attempt at lead vocals here. What I like about his voice is that it’s so unmetal sounding. It’s very straightforward sounding pop vocals. The composition itself has almost a psychedelic vibe to it. Too bad he does not sing more on this. Perhaps the next album. This is by far one of the better Lion Music releases that I’ve heard. So far it’s hit and miss with them for me. This definitely falls into the former category.

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE: www.tonyhernando.com

RELATED ITEMS: TONY HERNANDO--"III", 2004