Artist: Greg Rapaport CD Title: "Wyrd" Reviewed by: Nick Martinelli Reviewed: 2/5/03

    Greg Rapaport is a shredder from the great state of New York who offers a great variety of guitar playing on one CD. He mauls through, jazz, fusion, rock, metal and progressive guitar playing styles. No song sounds the same, so I know you'll dig the way this cat plays. He also has a very clean and tight technique as far playing goes as well. Greg is very articulate and just glides through licks. So without further delays lets hit it!

     Track one "11th Portal" is a cool number that is full of balls out shred and plenty of clean guitar playing. Rapaport cranks out some super fast shred runs throughout the track, and will put your ears into the hospital with them. I like how he broke up sections of the song, some slow and some fast. He did a great job of blending them together. There are no abrupt changes, and its all seamless. Also, check out his interesting use of the wah pedal. The pedal adds a great depth to his tone. Another highlight, is the keyboards used to help create a huge mysterious atmosphere.

     "Mahda" is an all out fusion and jazz masterpiece. Greg busts out some complex jazz chord progressions in this one and matches them with some very interesting solos. Many of his solos build up tension and release with excitement. He has a great knack for for writing involved songs, and this one is a good example of that.

     "The Unconscience" song three, opens with a very melodic intro lead that sets the stage for the rest of the tune. Greg laid down some heavy grooves that helped progress the song along. His leads throughout were very well constructed and showed lots of effort and dedication to the music at hand. Check out the cool lead line at 01:37, its very peaceful and melodic at the same time even though the backing riff is very heavy and dark. Then check out the superb lead break at 02:09, that displayed some hot combinations sextuplet runs.

     "Bugjuice" opens with a funky bass line that builds this song's jazzy and fusion feel. Check out the evil jazzy chord progression starting at 00:54. Talking about difficulty levels, I think my hands would overheat if I even tried. Next up, Rapaport hits you with some killer descending lines at 01:10. I'm telling you if you into fusion and jazz guitar, Greg Rapaport is you player. This song is great contribution to this genre of playing. He'd guys like Alan Holdsworth and Greg Howe very proud.

     Track five "Trust" starts up with some strange voice overs backed by some very faint jazz drum work. Then he busts into a very heavy progressive guitar riff that could easily tear down a house! The main lead line is this song is very in your face and demands attention. I highly recommend listening to this song at extreme volume levels! Overall his guitar playing is hot as hell, with searing leads, and super clean arpeggios added in for flavor. Don't forget to keep your ears peeled for some killer shred licks as well.

     "Diminished Returns" is the perfect name for this song, because its built on tons of diminished chords. I can't say I've ever heard a song like this, and I don't think you have either, unless you listen to tons of jazz and fusion. Then out of no where he busts into one of the heaviest riffs on the album at 00:45. The riff sounds like something from a Slayer cd my friends! Soon after Greg returns to his jazzy guitar playing vibe and breaks the chains with some interesting fretboard work.

     "Powerburn" song seven is another great jazzy number with some amazing clean guitar playing. Its not every day that we hear at The Shred Zone get to hear jazz playing at this kind of level and stature. Rapaport blends jazz, shred and fusion together for a unprecedented performance. I would like to draw attention to his guitar tone at this juncture. His lead tone is very clean and effect drenched for a nice smooth tone. His clean tone is amazing, every note seems to ring out effortlessly. Lastly, his overdriven channel has enough balls to rip the skin off your back and send shivers down your spine.

     Track eight "Slik" is another jazz fusion chopfest driven by clean chord progressions and creative juices. I don't know how he wrote these songs but they are very complex in musical nature. Next to that, I can't even imagine how long it took to write all the songs on this album, it had to have taken some time. He pays a lot of attention to detail in his song writing. Greg is very structured and tight as a song writer. This song seems to glide along with the greatest of ease. Each part meeting the next with a handshake. Its not all the time that you find jazz fusion players that write songs with structure in mind. Rapaport's songs don't sound like improv that's for sure.

     Lastly song nine "Dark Matter" brings this record to a close with a dark feel. Rapaport drives home some interesting melodies and blazing guitar riffing. I enjoyed the many clean passages through out the song as well. They helped add texture and more dimension to the track creating a large atmosphere of music. This song defiantly sounds like something that would appear in a sci-fi movie. It has that futuristic vibe I tell you. Over all it was a cool song and really offered a lot of diverse guitar work.

     In conclusion, Greg Rapaport is a very accomplished guitarist and knows how to put together a jazz fusion song with very heavy influences. Many of his songs have a dark minor and diminished feel to them and I think that is Greg's signature sound. He really stands out and doesn't seek to impress you with five billion notes per second, instead he warps your mind with jazz, fusion, and progressive guitar playing. Its enough to wear out your ears that's for sure. I give Greg Rapaport a thumbs up for an outstanding performance and creativity.