Hailing from Maine, Bill Pierce is quite possibly the best guitarist you've never heard of! Bill is also a guitar instructor of high prestige, having taught the likes of Corey Beaulieu from the metal band Trivium. Nomad of the North is quite simply a clinic in rock and metal shred with taste, emphasis and focus on staying melodically in touch with the song. Many, many, many highly talented guitar players could stand to learn from the way Bill explores challenging guitar territory without losing the feel of the song (and with it, often the listener).
The album opens with "Killers" and it's funky groove, tight drums and cool, descending minor chord theme. A little tongue-in-cheek humour follows with "Twinkle Toes Finds the Stars" as Bill rocks into some ripping 16th note triplet and 32nd note runs that will have many guitarists grumbling as they head back to the woodshed seeking more practice. This kind of confidence and mastery only happens with the right amount of work put in.
"Walking into Light (For Dad)" caught my ear with it's raw bluesy intro and a slower melody that is more emotive and steeped in the feel of a tribute. A little bit of a ZZ Top feel in some of the riffage here. More tongue-in-cheek humour follows with "The Toilet Paper Apocalypse" and a riff that is reminiscent of Friedman. Great sound, maybe not as heavy as Megadeth, but certainly heavier than Lynyrd Skynyrd while still evoking sounds of the south. Oppositionally, "Nomad of the North" is a wicked track with an eastern feel and an infectious as hell main riff that features a beautiful cacophony of artificial harmonics. The quiet breakdown on this track is happily Maiden-esque complete with a key up and harmony twin guitars - that's the good stuff, folks.
"Morbid Cold Heart" features my favourite riff on the album and at this point I must really point out the strong rhythm section with an extra thumbs up for the solid drumming! This track kicks ass and I can't help but wonder if it's possibly getting out some frustration about an ex? "Winter Solstice" is just an awesome, cohesive track with more guitar heroics and "Uncle Joe's Roadhouse" has me wondering what the story is here? Is Uncle Joe's a bar? A Garage? A nod to Frank Zappa? Sometimes less can be more and because this is an entirely instrumental album, it allows for us to wonder at the meanings in the songs. Whatever the story, the guitar clinic continues with a free flying solo that just flies into some ludicrously fast licks that, as per Bill's style evolve and return to the melodic section gracefully.
Fans of Vai, Satch, Malmsteen, etc will truly dig on this sublime display of finger dexterity, scorching harmonics, and classy shred. Not to be missed.
S.
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