Randy Ellefson
The Firebard

September 2004
Released: 2004, Guitarosity Records
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Celtic Bob

Hailing from Maryland, USA classically trained guitarist Randy Ellefson delivers a strong instrumental debut album. Randy received his Bachelors of Music degree in classical guitar which in turn partially led to him suffering from a severe case of tendonitis. He did his 4 years of playing requirements in only 2 years. He was unable to play guitar for over a year and even then he could barely play once a week. Four years passed before he could play Rock music again and even now is restricted to 3 hours a day every second day. It was because of this that it took over 2 years to get this record recorded.

Clocking in just under an hour this all instrumental album ranks up there with the greats like Satriani and Vai. The crunchy yet melodic guitar sound is very reminiscent of the great guitar albums of the late 80’s and early 90’s (Think SURFING WITH THE ALIEN). Randy has brought back guitar solo’s which seem to be missing in allot of today’s newer releases. Add in great riffs and a solid rhythm section and you got THE FIREBARD. There is nothing really slow on this disc just allot of great guitar’s overlapped with some amazing solo’s that can put Malmsteen to shame. You can easily see the classical influence and training in places. There was no holds barred when recording this, Randy just gave it everything he got. You can tell he was playing with everything he had. Even without knowing the hardship he went through you will still appreciate this recording and easily rank it up there with the greats of the past.

Hard Rock has a new name in guitar players and it is Randy Ellefson. Hopefully this is just the beginning.