There
was a time when guitar wasn't king. But that time is gone forever, thanks to Rock
'N' Roll and bands like Fourth Estate. Fourth Estate has created a progressive,
guitar-based music that fuses red hot riffs, deep, rumbling rhythms and exploratory
compositions that challenge the ear and boil the blood. On their last release,
See What I See, the music goes beyond the usual flash guitar work of most of their
contemporaries and takes rock into another world - literally. Listen to "Kara
Kum," a three-part electric suite, and find out where Western guitar sounds
meet Bulgarian folk melodies and rhythms. "Crazy Ivan" is a heady musical
journey across a broad, brawny soundscape that may as well be the endless expanse
of the Russian steppes. Not
to ignore influences at home, of course, "The Hammer Song" turns blues-rock
adrenaline into a rollicking blast of guitar assault pandemonium. But Fourth Estate
not only creates innovative music, they are also masters of innovative instruments.
On See What I
See, witness Beegle's expert use of the Transperformance Automatic Tuning Guitar,
employing the futuristic Digital Tuning System that creates a whole new universe
of tunings with just the touch of a finger. Other guitarists like Jimmy Page,
Joe Perry and Pat Metheny also play this groundbreaking instrument, but none of
them have turned it into an album full of music like this.