The second release from guitarist Marty Friedman revealed a level of depth and maturity that equally surprised Megadeth and guitar-shred fans everywhere.
While his 1988 debut Dragon's Kiss eluded to some of what is heard here, it was essentially just another shred fest.
The Eastern influence, which Friedman so embraces, is authenticated here by the excellent production of Kitaro and the dreamy contributions of Kitaro keyboardist Brian BecVar.
Most of the selections are taken at a relaxed pace, including "Triumph," which is a reworking of "Thunder March," a Friedman staple.
Megadeth drummer Nick Menza appears on a few tracks, but this is mostly an acoustic guitar/keyboard session.
The compositions do not stand out as much as they later would on his masterpiece Introduction; rather, the allure here is the dreamy ambience.
This recording marked the true arrival of one of the most important and original guitarists to emerge from the neo-classical genre.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | TibetMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 02:35 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 2 | AngelMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 03:39 | 8 MB | 22 MB |
| 3 | Valley of EternityMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 08:15 | 18 MB | 50 MB |
| 4 | NightMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 06:39 | 15 MB | 39 MB |
| 5 | Realm of the SensesMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 05:32 | 12 MB | 31 MB |
| 6 | WestMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 05:44 | 13 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | TranceMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 01:56 | 4 MB | 11 MB |
| 8 | TriumphMarty Friedman | Marty Friedman | Play | 05:41 | 13 MB | 31 MB |
| 40 mins | 91 MB | |||||
| 40 mins | 232 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brian BecVar | Keyboards, Percussion |
| 2 | Steve Fontano | Engineer, Producer |
| 3 | Marty Friedman | Composer, Guitar, Primary Artist, Producer |
| 4 | Kitaro | Producer |
| 5 | Nick Menza | Drums |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |