Tom Frelek – Moment of Certainty

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Young Canadian guitarist Tom Frelek, a member of progressive metal band Third Dynasty, has taken time out from recording their first album to release his own solo debut. He opens with what is probably his strongest track of the set in Funk-A-Licious with a grooving main rhythm, a blistering Eddie Van Halen-style intro lead and most of his strongest shredding of the album, full of Buckethead-isms. Frelek is said to have discovered his love of heavy music through Metallica, and their influence can certainly be heard primarily in the heavy parts of Blueprint For The Future, the album’s other big track. These most interesting tracks are at the beginning of the disc but that’s not to say that later cuts like Steve Vai-esque ballads Uprising and In A Blue Moment or a Paul Gilbert-influenced romp on Phantom Thrill don’t hold their own; there’s plenty of shred to be enjoyed. Weak spots are a children’s-TV-theme-like Crispy Critter and a fun but ultimately kitsch rocked-up cover of This Little Light of Mine. The nine-minute title track is the highlight of the latter stages of the disc, its theatrically sombre opening 90 seconds give way to more of Vai’s influence as the pace picks up and the shredding begins and some Petrucci-like progressive flourishes. Moment of Certainty is a lengthy and quite challenging record that may not yet place Frelek amongst the very best in the instrumental shred group (Gilbert), as his influence are a little too obvious, but it is a clear sign that he has what it takes and should break into the leading pack soon as he sheds their sounds to find his own.

Written by Andy Lye
More: 2010, Albums, Instrumental, Quick.Play Reviews, Tom Frelek