“Impressive Guitar Instrumental Album Without the Fluff”
by
Ray Van Horn, Jr. – 9/2009
Guitar
instrumental albums at one point were a phenomenon when
renowned names such as Tony MacAlpine, Steve Vai, Chris
Johnson, Chris Poland and of course Joe Satriani were hip
rock and metal couture. Correspondingly, North American
audiences hung over on corporate glam metal found disfavor
for guitar solos upon the advent of thumb-biting nineties
grunge riffs. The generation reared upon those stripped,
chunky sounds has only recently re-evaluated its
anti-soloing stance. It’s taken the jaw-slacking shred of
everyone from Marty Friedman to Herman Li of Dragonforce to
Shadows Fall’s Jon Donais to recapture the desire for
scorching tremolo and wailing arpeggio scales, but
it has
come
about once again.
Operating
in the regional backyard of Jon Donais is the New
England-based Scott Motyka. As Shadows Fall has
historically found solace in Buddhism as a launch pad for
their power-thrash exultations, don’t expect Scott Motyka
to be snapping his wrists and neck muscles to mega bpms.
However, Motyka, a very accomplished guitarist in his own
right (and utterly heavy when he wants to be), turns to
spirituality and organized religion as partial platforms
for his exploratory work on his seven-song debut
Cut…From
Within.
As good
art is bled more than manufactured, Scott Motyka
expressively utilizes his sharply-dressed capacities
on Cut…From
Within, so much
to the point he trims the fat many guitar instrumental
albums even today suffer from. Instead, Motyka finds the
soul within his compositions, creates a basic playroom for
them to thrive within and then
sculpts
from there. Motyka himself describes his album as a place
where he could “explore some of the key turning points” of
his life, thus making “a record that captured those
experiences – and in this case without
words.”
Point taken out the chute with the hammering “Betrayer’s
Trust,” a beastly opening number with as much Billy Sheehan
and Paul Gilbert guiding its heavy rhythm as the entire
King’s X trio. Motyka admits to letting some anger flow
into this track and if the mad tempo and argumentative bass
weren’t enough to coax his proposed vehemence, his busy
solos inflect his position.
In contrast, Motyka’s smooth calypso pulse of “The
Romantical” exhibits some of Joe Satriani’s dreamy
syncopation and random scale-spelunking, yet Scott Motyka
keeps a primary groove flowing in a seductive wave while
tempering his solos for the most part. Detailed only when
necessary, “The Romantical” is a playful love bite to cozy
up with.
As many prolific guitarists today have optimistically
exploited within their works, Motyka incorporates Eastern
world flair on “Rabbiam” with tabla and percussion to
assist his slinking rhythm. It serves as a proverbial pause
before the rapid-fire “Seniorita” and the snaggletoothed
“Great Wall of Douglas,” the latter of which finds Motyka
pulling distorted threads of white noise to accompany his
fret whipping and whammy crashing.
Scott Motyka, with his exemplary self-produced album, is to
be considered one of the United States’ best-kept guitar
secrets. A family man and assumed spirit chaser, his talent
resounds from both his lofty whims and his grounded
discipline. The man wants to engage his audience on a
cerebral level and he certainly meets his goal.
~
"Maximum
instrumental Metal/Punk fury runs wild..."
-RadioIndy.com
Maximum instrumental
Metal/Punk fury runs wild as extremely gifted guitarist,
Scott Motyka, runs his fingers full throttle across the
frets on his album, "Cut.. …From Within." As you listen to
the talents of Motyka you can feel the intensity and
precise precision his fingers drive home on these artistic
and interesting songs. You'll be hooked from the first
track, "Betrayer's Trust" as Motyka delivers razor sharp
guitars burning with melodic hooks and riffs. The fire and
passion rise off the strings on "The Romantical" as the
guitar bellows with emotive obsession. A frenzied thunder
of high velocity guitar riffs boils over on "Seniorita" as
it hypnotically melds around the solid and tight drum
beats. All fans of Metal/Punk music will thoroughly enjoy
this thrashing mania of instrumental guitar on the
outstanding CD "Cut.. …From Within."
~
"Press / Media
Release"
No-frills, melodic shred guitarist Scott
Motyka, merges old-school fusion rock with modern-day
progressive metal, delivering a fuel-injected, edge of your
seat attack, which is equally at home ripping the hardest
of rocker’s head’s off as it is melting listeners with
introspective finesse.
Imagine Robben Ford
performing with Tool, covering Paul Gilbert’s ‘Scarified’,
using Joe Satriani’s Signature JSX Amplifier.
Hailing from the rural suburbs of New
England, cutting his teeth on the edgy eclectic music
scenes stretching between Boston and Providence, this
virtual unknown delivers a passion and energy for his art,
sure to please hard rock guitar aficionados, shred-fanatics
and fans of raw, rapid-fire riffage.
On his self-produced
solo CD entitled “CUT.. ...FROM
WITHIN.”
In 2009, this emerging artist fights the battle for your mind, one note at a time. With new record in hand and supporting power trio on deck, Motyka begins his mission. Armed with his profound ‘secular spirituality’, and old six-stringed friend, he asks the faint of heart to listen with courage, for his musical message just may be..
The Sound
of Everything You Believe, Becoming a
Lie.
~
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