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Ben Trexel Under the Radar  (Tiny Kingdom Entertainment, 2000)


Birmingham, Alabama instrumental guitarist Ben Trexel's music has been
featured on ESPN, E!, The Playboy Channel, and in New Line Cinema's 
"The Hidden II" and MRG Entertainment's "Kissing a Dream" on Cinemax II. 
Under the Radar, his second CD after Wearing a Groove
(1997), mixes electric and acoustic guitars in rock instrumentals.  


Trexel's instrumentals plod with dull riffs and his leads move through
melodies that sound tritely familiar.  His chunky style sounds a lot
like Dream Theater's John Petrucci, the riff in "Hard Drive" in
particular strongly recalling Liquid Tension Experiment's "Acid Rain,"
but Trexel's writing has no original spark.  His acoustic guitar, often
featured on short intros to electric guitar songs, adds a refreshing
timbre, but the intros feel tacked on and rare relate to the music of
the following songs.  Trexel's arrangements often repeat the same
passages without changes or development for four and sometimes eight
cycles, blunting the impact of the riffs.  "S.O.B. Blues" solos way too
long over a lifeless performance and "Take the Fifth" marches through a
rigid shuffle.  Two acoustic tracks, "March Moon" and "Web of Moments,"
offer the most genuine moments on the disc, and "Web" also features the
most engaging arrangement, as the melody builds over a repeated figure
of only four arppegiated chords but still holds interest.  


Except for the hideously cheesy tremolo synth intro on "Wake Up!",
Under the Radar sounds immaculate, with thick electric guitars
and woody acoustic guitars, a fine achievement for a self-produced
record.  Trexel's execution is crisp and flawless, especially on
acoustic guitar. 
 

Under the Radar features skilled playing and a spotless sound,
but the bland songwriting can't hold the listener's interest.  This
plain music seems suited to background score for television or movies,
since it falters without some other point of focus.  


Reviewed by Scott Andrews [scottandrews@his.com]


More Info:

http://www.guitar9.com/ 





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