A mix of metal and rock

8 MP3 Songs
METAL: Heavy Metal, ROCK: Instrumental Rock



Details:
REVIEW:
Bobby Tratesâ latest offering âPerplexing Bendâ begins with all of the subtlety of a fierce kick to the gut or a razor sharp punch to the solar plexus. The guitarist is clearly on a â no holds barredâ
mission with this, his third cd. In the opening tune âGoddessâ, BT grabs your attention immediately with a heavy and forceful burst of crunching rhythm playing as he sings passionately with more than a hint of anger about arrogance resulting from perceived beauty. Fitting of the cd title, the song ends with a ferocious barrage of bends and a dazzling array of guitar pyrotechnics that swirl, climb and dive. The second song âNo Reasonâ continues the intense pace of the first song as the writer wonders why someone is against him for no reason. This song is immediately catchy and the guitarist articulately weaves between different time signatures alternating between slow and fast rhythm playing. This song also houses a very catchy and well defined guitar solo.
âUnder The Wingâ is an instrumental with blistering guitar solos that are sandwiched in between a very melodic guitar riff that is extremely memorable. âStrangeâ continues the relentless pace of chunky rhythm playing with just the right amount of distortion and paints a picture of someone wandering lost on a road to madness as the writerâs âworld is coming apart at the seamsâ.
This song has a âstrangeâ rapid fire solo that fittingly paints a picture of agony and desperation.
âIt Ainât Easyâ follows with a more straight ahead rock sound with ultra tasty guitar hooks and a terrific descending guitar solo. On the next song âYour So Close, Yet So Far Awayâ, the guitarist changes gears and easily slides into a more melodic mode. This is one of the best songs on the cd with frighteningly beautiful guitar solos that may very well capture this guitaristsâ defining and crowning moment.....simply full of taste and feeling. Magnificent! BT refocuses on in your face power chord progressions on âGravel Teethâ, an angry, yet refreshing song about resisting the persistence of Satan and evil as the guitarist declares âyour throne will crumbleâ. The cd ends with an absolutely haunting and beautiful alluring instrumental entitled âThinking Of Youâ
that is chock full of melodic guitar phrasing. On this song, BT invites close friends that play guitar to provide solos throughout the song. BTâs friends, Ivan Romero, Ron Silvestri, and Joey Mangano jr each play an extended solo part, and complement each other and BT very nicely.
BT begins the song with an awe-inspiring and sadly reflective guitar phrase that is instantly
appealing and captivating. The guitaristâs produces inspiring solos that emit various feelings ranging from sadness to a feeling of deep angelic dreams to heartfelt passion to peace and hope.
While the cd begins explosively it ends leaving the listener entranced in a landscape of wonderful interwoven melodies by four accomplished guitaristâs...and this listener wanted to hear more!
In summary fashion, this latest cd proves to be somewhat of a tale of two fascinating guitaristsâ.
On the one hand, the guitarist juiced up his sound with a greater level of sonic bombast and on the other hand, he still has an uncanny ear for catchy melodic guitar riffs and deep, thoughtful lyrics. In fact, a perplexing blend of earth-shattering crunch, pure intensity, melodic phrasing, lightning speed, precise articulation and a dash of flash make this guitarist a stand out talent amid a sea of aspiring guitaristsâ. This cd should be owened and played loud!

BOBBYTRATES.COM
NEWS LETTER
As of January 2006 here are some further updated on âTHE PROJECTâ! The first cd is now available from the following online record stores: cdbaby.com/trates; itunes.com; and bobbytrates.com. If you are signed up with a different record store it may or may not be available there.
Chromosome is a four song demo that will soon be available on cdbaby.com while supplies last. Once there gone, there gone. You may want to check the following record stores above also for this cd. This cd sounds nothing like the first and second one. Four songs of bone crushing heavy metal type of sound! Check it out!


The instrumental cd âTalk to me guitarâ is also available on the above sites. This cd offers 12 instrumental acoustic and electric guitar musical compositions. This is a great cd for those who appreciate guitar instrumentals. It also has motivated guitar players around the world to practice and write original music.


A WEBSITE SET UP JUST FOR THE FANS!
Myspace.com/thebobbytratesproject has been set up specifically for the fans. There they can post comments, give suggestions, etc. Check this site regularly for new music that will be uploaded on a regular basses. Here the fans can hear it first. This site has been well received by fans in Australia, Japan, Europe and all over the globe. Please feel free to check in. It is a free site all you have to do is sign up.


INTERVIEW ON UP AND COMING PROJECTS
I am hoping for this to be a very productive year musically. I have my hands full with all kinds of musical projects that I am working on. I am also looking forward to working with a few more friends of mine. I really do not hold to any particular genre of music, I like experimenting in different areas when it comes to making music. I am hoping to produce some new music this year so that when people hear it they will say, what band is this? I like to confuse people a little bit. If you continue to make the same kind of music all of the time, when another cd is made people kind of know what to expect. I am also in the beginning stages of putting together a dvd with songs that no one has ever heard before. There will also be several videos on this dvd of tunes that people are familiar with. This is a cool project for me because I like doing this kind of stuff. Creating, producing, engineering it all on my own. This way I can convey whay I want to convey, and not have someone telling me how I should do this or that. I am really looking forward to move ahead onto higher musical levels. I also want to thank my friends for adding their musical inputs to the perplexing bend cd. I have been playing on and off with John Stamatakis probably since 1979 or 1980, it has been a while. I have several pictures of Ron when we played in a band together dating back to around 1984. Ivan and Joey I have known for a few years now. I am hoping to motivate some of the younger generation to start writing original music and keep in it for the long term. It should be done for the love of music, if you are simply doing it to make money you really have to work extremely hard and put lots of hours and time into it. Playing out a lot, selling merchandise, cdâs etc. It has to be your full time job to put bread and butter on the table. People do not need to be on a major label to do this as long as the drive is there. Making music as a hobby or for fun or as a part timer is also a great option. It is not the way it used to be twenty years ago. Now with the click of a mouse ten thousand people can hear your tunes. Back in the day, you really had to work a lot harder at promoting. Now a days, everybody is networking with each other, and it makes the world a whole lot smaller.


IVAN ROMERO AND JOEY MANGANO JR ALSO PLAY GUITARS ON âUNDER THE WINGâ
RON SILVESTRI IVAN AND JOEY ALSO PLAY GUITARS ON âTHINKING OF YOUâ
JOHN STAMATAKIS AND BOBBY WROTE âYOUR SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR AWAYâ JOHN PLAYS BASS ON THIS SONG