Marbin: Shreddin' at Streetwater

Hoo boy. I was dreading the moment I would have to sit and listen to this album. The title alone was a major source of my concern - I don’t think many self-respecting guitar shredders would have put the word “shred� in the title. And sadly, my worries had not been unjustified.

Marbin’s Shreddin’ at Streetwater is all over the place in the worst way possible. The opening track already introduces everything that is awful about this album. I usually praise guitar shredders for their unmatched technical prowess, but here I can’t even say that! The perfect irony is that both parts of the title could be used as a description of this track, and the album as a whole - it certainly is Messy, but miserably fails to leave a Mark. Most of the tracks boil down to annoying, sloppy attempts at copying the greats of shred - it’s just meaningless fluff that doesn’t go anywhere. To top it all off - the album drags on for a bloody hour! No one could listen to this more than once and keep their sanity intact.

However, Shreddin’ at Streetwater has one area it can be praised for - Danny Markovitch is ON FIRE on this album. I can’t praise the chaotic aggression and expressive volatility of the saxophone in “Whiskey Chaser� and “Breaking the Cycle�, and the romantic beauty of the sax intro in “The Old Ways� is simply captivating. It’s a shame that Mr. Markovitch is wasting his incredible mastery of the saxophone in a band that could be considered mediocre at best, and borderline unlistenable at worst. Aside from the three tracks mentioned in the paragraph above, avoid this album at all costs!

Track Listing
1. Messy Mark
2. Whiskey Chaser Intro
3. Whiskey Chaser
4. The Old Ways
5. Escape from Hippie Mountain
6. Electric Zombieland
7. The Way to Riches
8. Breaking the Cycle
9. Arkansas Jumper
10. Splaw

Added: July 9th 2021
Reviewer: Maciej Slowik
Score:
Related Link: Band @ Bandcamp
Hits: 786
Language: english

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