Matt Simon – The Scepticle Testicle

Instrumental albums can be very tricky. If done right, like the Animals as Leaders discography, one can do rather well. Most unfortunately fall by the wayside and are only hailed by other musicians if at all. Enter guitar hero, Matt Simon, of London, England. His new album, Scepticle Testicle, is full of guitar acrobatics and song titles all relating to male genitalia. 

The album, like most instrumental albums, floats between genre and style in order to showcase the talents and creativity of said artist. Matt Simon does well here mixing it up. Matt is obviously a very experienced player, but like most guitar driven instrumental records, unless there is something mind blowing, ear catching, or completely different, a lot of these types of records tend to fall short. Most of Matt Simon‘s solo release reminds me of Mr. Joe Satriani, and I think followers of Joe will really get behind this. The album actually reminds me most of a lesser known artist named Neil Zaza (check his work out here if you dig this record: http://www.neilzaza.com). What happens here is like most other albums of this type, songs are written to showcase the artist, not written in order to create a good song. I believe thats where most musicians fall short. My favorite guitar records are not the ones that feature the guitarist and his wankery alone. The entire Freak Kitchen discography and James Murphy‘s Convergence, my favs of the style, are my favorites for the simple reason that well thought out songs were written here. Mattias Eklundh‘s solo records are a hard listen, but his band Freak Kitchen features plenty of his stellar eccentric playing while having silly yet strong song writing. So sorry Matt, not to knock you or your record, but where Scepticle Testicle falls short to me is in the focus. The record’s attempt to stand alone among the countless array of other solo records over the years simply does not. While there are a few standout moments and as a whole the record is very solid and what one would expect as a solo artist instrumental release, the problem is just that.

Score: 4 out of 10

Artist: Matt Simon
Album: The Scepticle Testicle
Track List:
1. Sack Attack
2. Cutlery Butlery
3. Lush
4. Midnight Gooch Marinade
5. Dont Be Greedy With The VD
6. Gonad Nomad
7. Rubiks Pube
8. Scrotesque
Record Label:
Unsigned

For Fans of: Joe Satriani and Neil Zaza