Dan McAvinchey
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Review of "Guitar Haus"
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By: Brynn McKenna
uitarist Dan McAvinchey is up there with all the masters. He's taken his musical cues from the likes of Carlos Santana, Alan Parsons, Gary Moore and Jeff Beck and combined them all to come up with his own style. This thirteen-track instrumental CD is enjoyable from start to finish. The song 'Noise In The Attic' is an excellent '70s-'80s-'90s-inspired hard rock/metal arrangement with cool distortion, sound FX and superb slide technique. 'Through The Windows' is a blues arrangement with hard rock overtones and Middle Eastern inspired passages that give it a rather moody, dark sound. Crisp, clean picking, good bending technique, and all the different passages flow together. 'Cellar Dwellers' is reminiscent of the big power prog-metal sound. I like the heavy deep, dark distortion in the rhythm guitar track, a nice contrast to the melodic picking that creates a strangely yearning, longing mood. Dig the chaotic parts as well. 'Sudden Storm' has a weird techno-sounding intro, followed by a 'calm before the storm' passage of B. B. King-like blues riffage. Then comes the heavy metal onslaught full of chaotic but melodic, heavy, fast picking. 'Morning Sun' is ballad-like with cool bending and sliding techniques, different subtle distortions creating variation in sound. 'Wah Kingdom' has wah laced into the rhythm as well as the leads. Cool bluesy song. 'Casa Diamante' is a very catchy Latin-inspired arrangement employing hard rock/metal picking techniques. Of the three bonus trax, 'Millennium (unreleased demo)' sounds like something '70s-'80s Fleetwood Mac might have come up with, but with pianos and violins added. 'Voyager (unreleased demo)' is a thoughtful, yearning blues number and 'Carolina (unreleased demo)' is kind of semi-classical with piano, acoustic guitar, violins and xylophone sounds. Then comes a little Latin-influenced country-folky part and a hard rock/metal part with good sustaining. Yes all of that in one song. One album. Dan McAvinchey is a very versatile, talented guitar player. I don't know what his career plans are but any band would be luck to acquire him. This album is a great find!
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Brynn McKenna / Ballbuster
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