Customer Reviews

Feeding the Machine

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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Feeding the Machine is virtuoso guitarist James Murphy's sophomore solo effort. It interlocks his varied musical experiences in both extreme bands like Testament and Death, and his stint with progressive rock bands/musicians. Whilst a solo album, Feeding the Machine is far from a typical 'shred' record where the guitarist sets out to display his profound technique; rather, this record blends all of Murphy's influences in an impressive context without losing focus.

Steve DiGiorgio and Deen Castronovo support Murphy on bass and drums respectively. Obviously, James Murphy plays all guitars and a good amount of keyboards (besides recording, mixing and engineering the whole thing). DiGiorgio and Castronovo aren't the only talented musicians on the album though; Geezer vocalist Clark Brown appears on two tracks ("Feeding the Machine" and "Deconstruct") and former bandmate Chuck Billy, as in Murphy's first solo album, makes an appearance on "No One Can Tell You", which very much feels like a Testament song, especially because of Steve DiGiorgio's subtle playing. It, however, contains a vicious key solo that gives the song its own vibe. Artension and Royal Hunt frontman, John West, lends his voice to the soothing "Visitors". Needless to say, his distinct vocals give the album a much-welcome depth along with Matt Guillory's awesome run-out solo. Last but not the least, Chris Long sings the throaty parts of "Through Your Eyes (Distant Mirrors)" while Explorer's Club mastermind, Trent Gardner, does the ballad-like singing over acoustic guitars and Floydian keyboards. Each singer wrote their own vocal melodies and lyrics (except Chuck Billy) and that gives the album an added character making it more of a band effort, rather than a sad shredfest with mindless noodling.

Both Vitalij Kuprij and Matt Guillory, particularly the latter, play stunning key melodies, riffs, and solos. Sadly, Kuprij only appears on the title track trading a bizarre solo duet with the man himself. Guillory's inclusion, however, is bigger, as he contributes to more than half of the songs. Jeremy Colson also plays drums on a number of tunes and his distinctive style turns out to be another dimension of the album. I, however, like Deen Castronovo's style better, since his tone, phrasing and articulation on this record is mind blowing. The instrumental tracks are very interesting. They sound more developed in Murphy's approach to rhythmic ideas compared to the songs on Convergence, but I guess I still like the debut disc a tad better. The first instrumental, "Contagion", borrows light Middle Eastern melodies, but it's kept to a minimum, amongs Murphy's razor-sharp guitar tone and churning metallic riffage.

There are also two cover songs on the record. Dixie Dregs' "Odyssey" and Al DiMeola's "Race with Devin on Spanish Highway" are arguably the album's most progressive interpretations. Bass god Stu Hamm makes an appearance on the Dregs tune with a fantastic slap bass solo that will blow your mind away. Murphy's playing here oddly reminds me of Joe Satriani as he borders in blues guitar a little but keeps the whole song in a very heavy context at the same time. DiMeola's fusion classic, on the other hand, features killer percussion work and an intense bass figure by Steve DiGiorgio. Murphy delicately runs a powerful guitar theme which is repeated intermittently as Matt Guillory experiments with different keyboard patches. The two maestros begin to duel fiercely laying down technical licks and creating the ultimate killing moment of the album.

This is a great guitar album -- just like the way I dig it. I appreciate Murphy for making room for all these amazing talents here. It must be this mutual understanding for them to create awesome waves of sound never straying too far away from Murphy's musical vision (his Death and Thrash Metal roots in this case), yet somehow also adding new soundscapes. If you haven't heard Convergence, that's even better, in my opinion.

Murphy rules, and you know it. Great album...I bought this the day it came out, and it gets better after each listen. At first I preferred Convergence, but I realized this is the work of a true artist who has only just begun to come into his own. Enveloping many styles, such as Jazz, Death Metal, Progressive Rock, Hard Rock, and thrash, this is an amazing acheivement. It even has spanish and blues influences that work to accent his songwriting genius. Best songs-Epoch and Race With the Devil on the Spanish Highway (a cover of an Al DiMeola tune)

James comes through again. Feeding the Machine rocks. The instrumentals are awesome. His remake on Dixie Dreg's "Odyssey" is my favorite tune on the entire disc. He plays with so much emotion on that one. Contagion is an in-your-face metal instrumental that will have you headbanging for sure. He also does a heavy version of Al Dimeola's classic, "Race with the Devil on a Spanish Highway". I like Al's version better, but James gives the song some serious balls. The vocal numbers are good, but not as good as the ones on Convergence. An exception is "Visitors". John West has some cool pipes on that one. This album is highly recommended to those who love pure metal, with exceptional guitar playing, at it's best! 10 stars!

YOU MY NOT KNOW THAT JAMES IS THE GUITARISTS FOR SOME OF THE BEST DEATH METAL GROUPS LIKE DEATH AND OBITURARY TO TESTAMENT. HIS SOLO CD ARE A CROSS BETWEEN STARIANA AND VAI TO HIS OLD METAL DAYS THERE ARE SOME INSTRUMENTAL AND SOME VOX TRACKS WITH CHUCK BILLY

James Murphy once again astonishes with his total mastery of the dynamics of Death metal guitarwork. Not only is he the composer and main artist but also the producer. His solo stuff is a far cry from his collaborations with bands and shows a maturity not found in extreme music of this nature. The production is heavy and in your face though crisp and clear. The instrumental songs rips with fast and well articulated solos while the vocal songs is a welcome relief from endless fretboard twiddling. A well-rounded album from an accomplished musician. A definate must buy!!!!

James Murphy was a name I did not know before randomly buying this disc. Bands he has been in such as Obituary and Testament are not ones whose catalogues I've explored. But if they had this fellow on guitar they certainly were blessed in at least that department. For the eleven tracks on this album were a surprise to me in that I thought I was buying a shred album. And in some respects I did, but rather than the sort of high end widdly diddly stuff you might have expected from an early Jason Becker or any of the squillion other Shrapnel Records releases what you get here is an earthiness, a wall of sound that would make Pantera happy. James understand the beauty of riffs and tone that sound as solid as Himalayas but recorded (by the man himself!) in such a way that there is an overiding sense of feel and precision to the 16 ton weight on your cranium chord structures.

Also what takes this album away from being what may be seen as just an instrumental clinic is the fact that a number of these tunes have vocals. And interesting ones too that turn these numbers into genuine metal songs. Vocalists in attendance are: Clark Brown, Chuck Billy, John West, chris Long and Trent Gardner and each of them seems to stamp themselves on the track. Which shows their talent but also shows that Murphy was capable of sharing the limelight on `his' album. Respekt. A number of other guest musicians show up here and there though the bulk of the work was taken care of the team of Steve Digiorgio on bass and almost inevitably Deen Castronovo on drums - the consumnate shred mans go-to guy for their albums.

As touched on above the production is good, the booklet is a little sparse as no lyrics are included and I must admit that the cover art was a bit different. But all up these are minor gripes when presented with such solid guitar work. From the straight ahead chugfests to songs like Contagion where Murphy sprinkles in some different influences this is the sort of album metal fans can devour as equally as the more dedicated shred-head market. After listening to this three times from start to finish the first thing I did was order his earlier album, Convergence.

You should also visit the review by Murat Batmaz.

Every musician has mentor, someone they style their music after. James Murphy is an awesome guitarist and a musician of epoch proportian. He can hypnotise you or rock your brains out with aggresive, obnoxious solos. James Murphy is definately someone I would like to follow in my musical career.

James Murphy (of bands like Death, Obituary, and Testament, just to name a few) is back with his solo effort. Amazing metal. End of story.

After listening to Convergence, who woudn't expect an album of such from this man. An excellently composed and well though out fallow up to Convergence, showing some versitility in this style of agression metal. Somewhat lacking when compared to his first solo album, Convergence", yet not to be missed.....

At first I couldn't believe it. It's been so long since I've heard metal been played like that, that my first impulse was to discredit my ears. Smart and agressive guitar playing surrounded by a modern epic of what metal is going to be like for years to come.