Welcome to shred school, where Spain's own fortunate son, the great TONY HERNANDO drives the bus. I seldom get into the whole "guitar virtuoso" scene. I know there is a whole sub-genre out there that is all about who can walk the fretboard the fastest and not trip over their own fingers. TONY HERNANDO is different. This is his third record, and arguably his best. You can hear the standard influences from MALMSTEEN, and SATRIANI here, but Tony adds a bunch of metal to this all-instrumental offering that can satisfy many tastes. He is skilled enough to be a speed demon, but confident enough to slow down, and show what he can really do: write great pieces.

Sacred Ground" is a great example of his skill. He uses acoustics to create a sticky middle-eastern tone, you almost feel as if you are in the market square in Istanbul, buying monkey brains. Songs like "Souls Of The World", parts 1 & 2, show that he has taken what he absorbed from Satchmo, and stretched it out to create a greater metallic product. The best track by far on the disc is "Sci-Fi to Reality", an awesome jazz influenced track where Tony squeezes two great musicians to give some of their best, and it shows. Mike Terrana (AXEL RUDI PELL, MALMSTEEN) beats with precision in all the strange time signatures that can be conjured, and Pepe Bao twiddles the bass strings with credible aptitude.

You don't have to be a guitar freak to appreciate this record, it could really stick to the masses. This guy is a musician first, and a guitar god second. There is no point on the record when his ego or his playing overshadow the point of making a quality CD with good music. Well done, but not overdone.

- Murtaugh

OFFICIAL SITE: www.tonyhernando.com

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Sci-Fi to Reality

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