Inferno Zine 1997

"Personalities"

[Eatin' Records 1996]

1. Emerald Skies
2. Parallel Lines
3. At the River's Edge
4. Metallic Hoe Down
5. Game Show
6. El Rio de Tiempo
7. Cincinnati
8. Tears
8. Haunting
9. April
10. The Duel

Total running time: 35:52

T.D Clark is a guitar hero and axeman of a top class. You haven't heard of him ? Well neither have I until I got this album which is his first. Now who the hell would like to hear 35 minutes of guitar wanking instrumentals ? It can be a real bore if the only purpose of the guitarrist is to show the rest of the world how fast his fingers can fly on the the beck and how many notes he can pick in a second. Now this is completely different stuff. The songs do have good structures, they are interesting even none of them have any kinds of vocals and they have excellent melodies and most of all, they have done with good style and taste and of course with excellent musicianship.

The songs do have lots of variation and not being just "metal" category but different styles of music are present in perfect harmony. Running times of individual songs vary from 50 secs short pieces to 5 minutes and as the album is relatively short, there is no chance to get bored while listening to "Personalities". Listening to the album makes you very relaxed, especially if you aren't a guitar player desperately trying to figure out how the hell T.D. Clark handles his instrument.

Even I don't know nothing about playing an insturment or music theory it is quite safe to say that a guitar virtuoso like Joe Satriani has been a major influence as the songs do sound a bit like "Flying in a Blue Dream" album. While listening to the album you can check out the stereogram in the CD booklet and fantasizing of cruising at the highway in the middle of the hot summer day carstereo blasting out "Emerald Skies"...

http://inferno.dse.nl/

http://inferno.dse.nl/issue10/tdclark.html

Reviewer: Mega