Gus G will release his new album, Quantum Leap, on 8 October 2021 via AFM Records. His fourth solo release, the ten-track instrumental album, showcases his tremendous playing style and is the result of spending time at home with a global pandemic in progress.
“I didn’t make Quantum Leap with the intention of it being the next one in the cycle of solo albums,” Gus told MetalTalk. “It was more of a case of, ‘What else is there?’ I needed the creative outlet.”
Enigma Of Life
The opinion that one has to make an instrumental album for oneself, primarily, and that if people enjoy it, that is a plus, is something that Gus agrees with. But, having a career in music over the last 20 years has taught Gus that, even if instrumental Heavy Metal albums are a niche market, the business and market has evolved to make them more readily acceptable.
“As an artist nowadays, you can basically do whatever you like, and there is an audience out there for it,” Gus says. “Instrumental music might not be a big seller, but everybody can listen to anything, and there are no limits to what I can do. There’s a track on the record that’s a little bit synth-wave [Night Driver], there’s a bluesy ballad thing [Enigma Of Life], there’s a track that has more prog elements [Into The Unknown], and there is some Power Metal [Demon Stomp and Judgement Day].
“So it is all under the hard rock / Heavy Metal umbrella, but I wanted it to have some variety. It doesn’t sound like I wrote ten different riffs on the low E string and put a bunch of solos over it. And there’s no excuse for anybody to say, ‘I like the music, but I hate those vocal types,’ because there are no vocals (laughs).”
The album has been assembled with new compositions and ideas from Gus’ “riff vault.” Initially, Gus was programming drums and playing the guitar, bass and keyboards, but drummer Vincent Velasco blew Gus away during a chance meeting. When producer/engineer Dennis Ward came on board, the team had been finalised. Ward also plays bass on eight of the ten tracks.
Alongside the ten new tracks is Force Majeure, which features UFO guitarist Vinnie Moore and seven live tracks.
Fierce
The ten tracks are solid and compact musical ideas and not some opportunity to widdle away aimlessly. The guitar takes the role of the voice, which was a challenge as Gus was used to writing with vocals in mind. Gus acknowledges that he did overplay a few times during production, but once he realised the problem he was able to overcome it.
“When I first wrote Exosphere, for example,” Gus says, “there were so many things going on in the track, but it wasn’t saying anything. I really needed to have the guitar taking a vocal approach. I knew that if I just kept the playing technical, it wasn’t going to be enjoyable.
“So the playing isn’t always about technique, and once I found the formula, it was easier to create melodies for the record.”
Instrumental Metal is often a challenge to the ears and is something that, maybe, a number of people have trouble or difficulty with and is certainly something which Gus appreciates.
“I’m a guitar player, and I cannot stand most instrumental guitar albums,” he says. “The classics are the classics, but very rarely do I get into them because, after the third track, it just seems like an endless guitar solo where everything that sounds the same.
“That’s something I wanted to avoid on Quantum Leap, and I think I succeeded in doing that.”
Quantum Leap can be pre-ordered from https://bfan.link/afm-Quantum-Leap
Exosphere
Quantum Leap – CD/DVD:
Disc 1
01 – Into The Unknown
02 – Exosphere
03 – Quantum Leap
04 – Chronesthesia
05 – Enigma Of Life
06 – Judgement Day
07 – Fierce
08 – Demon Stomp
09 – Night Driver
10 – Not Forgotten
11 – Force Majeure (feat. Vinnie Moore)
Disc 2
01 – Fearless (Live)
02 – Mr. Manson (Live)
03 – Letting Go (Live)
04 – Cold Sweat (Live)
05 – Force Majeure (Live)
06 – Money For Nothing (Live)
07 – Thrill Of The Chase (Live)
Quantum Leap – Vinyl:
Side A
1 – Into The Unknown
2 – Exosphere
3 – Quantum Leap
4 – Chronesthesia
5 – Enigma Of Life
6 – Judgement Day
Side B
7 – Fierce
8 – Demon Stomp
9 – Night Driver
10 – Not Forgotten
11 – Force Majeure (feat. Vinnie Moore)
