by Robert Taylor

Guitarist Marty Friedman surprised the metal and guitar community with the release of his fine new age-influenced Scenes. On that release, he proved that he wasn't just another shredder, but rather an intelligent and sensitive player with strong compositional skills. With Introduction, Friedman continues to build on this formula, but with more maturity and musical diversity. Themes are not just introduced and abandoned in favor of gratuitous technical noodling, rather the compositions are thoughtfully explored and brought to a natural conclusion. Tracks such as "Arrival" and "Bittersweet" both contain beautiful melodies that would fit perfectly on a movie soundtrack. In fact, the compositions on this session are so good that Mr. Friedman could easily put down his guitar in favor of a pen, as it is his gift of composition that differentiates him from his peers. An unexpected masterpiece in a genre that could use more releases such as this.