FARZAD GOLPAYEGANI

Farzad Golpaygani from Iran (currently in exile in Turkey) first three albums was typical guitar hero albums where he proved he is an excellent electric guitarist which preferred to show of instead of writing good, original stuff.

On this, his fourth album, he has changed style completely. Gone is the cascades of electric guitars and in comes acoustic Persian (??) folk music with a lot of other worlds drawn in too. The new style reminds me a lot about Flairck and that is both an observation and a compliment. And Farzad Golpaygani has also written some good songs to wrap around his new style too.

Farzad Golpaygani is still proving that he is an excellent musicians. But this time in a much more understated, subtle manner which suits him better, me thinks. In short, this album is his best album by many country miles and well worth checking out if Flairck and/or prog folk with eastern influences is your cup of tea. Please give us more of this stuff, Farzad Golpaygani.

3.5 stars

Farzad Golpayegani is a guitar hero. No more and no less. His albums is demonstrating his prowess as a guitarist. He mixes his guitars with some folk music stuff from Iran. That is a good mix and Farzad Golpayegani proves on the first half of the opening track 14 that he has a good grasp of the art of composing melodies too. But the guitar soon takes over and we soon get this metal medley which in my view is both tacky and cheesy. It is a fun medley though, but you have to ask what the purpose of this medley is. The final track 47 also demonstrates some good compositional qualities.

My main problem is that this is a guitar hero album and I am not a guitar hero fan. My advice to Farzad Golpayegani would be to form a band or to join a band instead of following this one dimentional guitar hero route. This is not an album or even a genre for me, I am afraid.

2.25 stars

The first album was a demo of what he could do. The demonstration continues on this album. A demonstration where he proves he is an excellent guitar player and that he can move from metal to folk music to some avant-garde to simple rock'n'roll. Most of the music here is progressive metal. The album is instrumental and based on his guitar playing. The song titles are numbers instead of proper titles. Which is suitable here. Farzad Golpayegani moves within many well known metal and rock riffs. He adds some Persian folk music to this soup and his own personality. Fans of Dream Theater and prog metal will recognice a lot of the music on this album. The Persian folk music aside, the originality is therefore limited.

The quality of the material here is also limited and is being overshadowed by the "spot this riff by band x" games this music evokes. This album is a decent album and that's all. A plus for the folk music here.

2 stars

Farzad Golpayegani is a guitarist and composer from Iran, currently living in exile in Turkey. This is his first album. It is also a free album too.

As a debut goes, that either if you are a new guy in a job trying to impress your bosses or your debut is an album; there is a temptation to display a wide variety of skills. This is a very good idea. In particular if have just been employed as a nurse, office clerk, bus driver or whatever employment you have taken up.

In the case of this debut though, the result is a predictable let's cram in everything in one go. This album is therefore more a showcase than an album. A showcase that I am sure has worked well with Farzad Golpayegani's "employers"; the music industry, gigs promoters, the film industry and the music fans.

In short and to spell this out. The album starts with a lot of heavy metal riffs and licks. It then moves into a more Persian folk music phase before it ends up as a more melodic rock album. All of Farzad Golpayegani's skills has been showcased before the end of this album.

The problem is that this philosophy does not promotes the urgency to write and record coherent pieces of music which really stick to the listener's minds. All we get from this album is Farzad Golpayegani's abilities as a guitarist. Period. There is no good songs here and this is not really a music album as most of us would define a coherent music album. I don't think that was the intention with this album too.

It is though a good free download for those interested in Persian folk music and for those who want to support both Farzad Golpayegani and the Iranian underground scene. Both are worthwhile causes in my view. But as a music album...........

2 stars