Holy shit.
When it comes to bass and guitar, I love all things virtuoso. Ex-Racer X and current Mr Big guitarist Paul Gilbert is one of my heroes, as avid LBEMD readers will already know. In the modern age, the unstoppable rise of tech-death metal bands and other technically proficient genres has harboured a new breed of guitarist – one that transcends time signatures and has to be rhythmically perfect 100% of the time.
A lot of this can be put down to Sumerian Records – however, that is a whole different blog entry. Or, if you’d like a quick rundown on why tech-death is so popular, check out one of my previous entries.
I digress – so let’s focus on the man in the video above, another one of these Sumerian-signed, technically outstanding guitarists. He is Evan Brewer, the brand new bassist for The Faceless (can you guess which label they are on?) and fully fledged bass expert.
And what a bassist this man is. He uses two basses (two!!!) to play the start of Currency, one of the songs from his new album ‘Alone’ – released on Sumerian, of course – and the remainder of the record follows in much the same fashion. Brewer claims that everything you hear on the record is the product of a bass guitar(s) only, a staggering claim when you consider the variety of tones and buzzes found.
As a bass guitarist myself, I find my jaw constantly on the floor when worshipping at the altar of Brewer. The sheer technicality and precision he employs to make a catchy rhythm is nothing short of astounding and, to be perfectly honest, he has to be up there with Sean Malone, Tony Choy and Alex Webster as one of the best DM bassists. It comes as no surprise that he’s worked with another modern virtuoso, the marvellous Tosin Abasi who currently provides the beating heart to instrumentalists Animals As Leaders, in former tech-metalcore giants Reflux.
It is an absolute pleasure to listen to Alone. Trying to absorb all the intricacies of the album on the first listen is impossible due to the layer upon layer of textured, toned bass slaps. Hopefully this guy tours the UK soon or, at the very least, brings The Faceless over for another UK jaunt as they totally rock my shit too.
