Review on Anthimos Manti - Alligator lick (2009)

To be honest,i believe i'm not the the suitable person for this review.There are others with many more insights than me,on the shredding albums...But i guess i'll have to do it on my own,besides my few awareness of this subject.. Searching on his myspace profile,i wasn't able to get any more info about this shredder from thessaloniki,not any more info than the ones i had already in my hands.. Quite young in his age and with some very good ideas,Anthimos Manti has worked with bands and musicians in Greece that may have helped,him or them,through their collaboration,but also made him gain some respect for his work by many..That's the reason why he has worked with Winter's Dawn on their last album "The Winter Is Dawning",that's why he has been joining Christos Dantis on his shows,also played with Stargate,John Jeff Touch and (correct me if i'm wrong) if i'm well recalling,he played some riffs and solos on the 10-year cellebration since the Metally Insane project,with Crystal Tears and many other musicians,last year.That means,that we are dealing with some very professional work over here.As it is indeed... A promotional album with 14 tracks full of shredding and a lot of hard rock and progressive influences by the all-time classics,such as Vai,Satriani,Gilbert... "Alligator Lick" is the name of this album which has some good sound and production,14 tracks easily heard by anyone,as the tracks are are very short-lengthed,and do not bust your balls with all that guitar playing..Its advantage is that i didnot get bored with all that riffing and solo-ing,becuase i'm not really on that stuff,i do easily get tired of the instrumental albums,mostly when there is no inspiration and when there is nothing new to present.Something that happens quite often here in Greece in the last 2 years where all the guitarists are suddenly "Guitar heroes".. There are only a few,countable in one hand,as we Greeks say,the shredders that have managed to gain my attention,since all of them are playing the exact same things....By my judgement,Anthimos belongs to the few,numbered ones,those that are in "one hand"... For a reason i haven't discovered yet,my personally,favourite track is "Mr.Potato"..(yeah,you're gonna see some very "interesting" names in the tracks..) A video has been made for the same-titled track,"Alligator lick",which reeeeeaally bored me,by watching Anthimos watching the whole time at the camera while playing his solo...anyway...i won't judge the video clip...the main point is that this album is for all you guys that want to hear something different,something new. it even offers some guitar lessons .... check out!!