Jon Hooper - Doorways to the Other Worlds (indepedent) 2004 1. "Grind" (3:41) "Doorways to the Other Worlds" is a CD chock full of instru-METAL! This short instrumetal EP was created by Jon Hooper, along with ex-Mortification guitarist Jeff Lewis. Together they create a CD that reminds me of some of the best names in shred guitar-Steve Via, Satriani, Friedman, etc. Of course the main ingredient of any shred-instru-metal CD is the guitar solos. Hooper does a fine job indeed. The solos become the voice of the song, singing out with melody. Jon doesn't seem to be trying to prove anything to anyone here, nor does he seem to be trying to show off. Rather, each solo seems carefully crafted to fit the mood of the song. Quite nice. For the most part the songs are pretty heavy, save for the mellow "Frozon in Time". However, the entire CD has a melodic feel that reminds me of Satriani's "Not Of this Earth." In other words, I find this CD to be something to kick back and relax to rather than something to mosh around the room to. By the time I had written this review I had listened to this CD some 10 times and just found that the music was very relaxing.
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