Saturday, January 15, 2011

ESP Guitars Enters The 2011 Year With A Bang

A Bang? Well yeah. The Japanese guitar company,ESP, produced new and exciting guitar models. Brace yourself..





First, this is the new James Hetfield signature guitar. The model is called ESP/LTD Snakebyte. Just look at the design of the body. This is totally new from ESP guitars. Nice "snake" logo or inlay on the 12th fret. This guitar is available in 2 colours. It's the 'Snow White' and the Black. It's loaded with EMG81 on the bridge,EMG60 on the neck.

Next, we have a very exclusive guitar. It is the ESP/LTD KH-2 SE. Only 100 and 300 units are available around the world respectively.

What really catch my eyes about this Kirk Hammett signature series is the colour. It's not totally black, it's Metallic Greenburst. Kirk Hammett usually produce his signature series in black colour. This colour gives you the exclusiveness and maybe the coolness of owning this unit. It's also loaded with EMG81 on the bridge, EMG60 on the neck.

This next guitar will make you scream FUKIN SLAYERRRR!!!...if you're a Slayer fan. Sadly, however LTD only produce this guitar for only 250 units. This is the Slayer-2011. With that really small number of production, it must be really expensive and I'll be one of the person who will not own it.

Equipped with EMG 81 (bridge) and EMG 85 (neck), Slayer logo inlaid around the 12th fret and the pentagram as the inlays. The finish of this guitar is the album artwork of the Reign In Blood album. This guitar will be one heck of a collector's item.

The fun doesnt end there. DevilDriver gets their own signature. Most of the DevilDriver fans know that Mike Speitzer and Jeff Kendrick of DevilDriver have been using ESP guitars for a long time, now, ESP offer them to have their own signature guitar models. This is the LTD MS-1 (Spreitzer) and LTD JK-1 (Kendrick).

The MS model is based on a V-shaped guitar and the JK is based on the ESP Eclipse model. Both of the guitars have the same pickups for it, EMG 80 for neck and bridge pickups. Both of the guitars also have DevilDriver logo on the 12th fret.

This next one is also for another long user of ESP. Max Cavalera. We have seen a lot of his signature models in the past. The V-shaped, AX shaped. but one thing is certain is the colour. It's available in Urban Camo and Snow White colour. This time, Max came out with an Explorer shape signature series.

ESP said that the LTD(Max-200) model would be one of the most affordable signature model they've ever produced. I wonder if it's true. Hmmh. Back to the guitar, For the ESP Max Cavalera EX,it's in mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, Gotoh tuners, Schaller straplocks, and Seymour Duncan Distortion pickups.




Good news for the people who are on the tight budget! ESP also produced new products of LTD guitars. A long user of ESP, George Lynch, has a new signature series, LTD GL-200K. There's also a new model for the Bullet For My Valentine's guitarist Michael Paget. The model is LTD MP-200.

Moving on, we have new LTD standard and Deluxe series too. Based on last year models, I find it quite dull and nothing special. However, this year, ESP made it better.





New and facelifted models ,LTD EX-401FM (See-Thru Black) and LTD V-401FM (See-Thru Black and See-Thru Black Cherry). If you're not the kind of person who likes the V or the EX shape,there's a classic single cutaway mahogany body,LTD Deluxe EC-1000T/CTM. With it's classy finish and nice body shape you'll love this. I think most ESP mans has always been in love with EC or Eclipse models. Right? Finally, a decent sharped shaped 7 stringed guitars for you. It's the LTD H-1007 and LTD H-1007FR. Recently ESP has been receiving a lot of demand for a 7 stings to be produced and here you are.

Dont just sit there and do nothing!!! Go break your piggy banks or whatever you call 'em and hit any ESP/LTD dealers and get any guitar of your choice now. Yeah, I'm not kidding, it'll be worth it if you're buying the limited/ exclusives models. Trust me or maybe not....




*all info and pictures in this post is taken from ESPguitars.com

Friday, January 14, 2011

Bullet For My Valentine's Fever album



The artwork of this album is very interesting. As well as the songs in this album. Bullet For My Valentine is well known for amazing catchy riffs and solos. Well, this time they've made it quite different. This is the third Bullet For My Valentine's album and they made very different compared to their previous albums. The songs became more Metalcore,less hevay metal influences, It's quite interesting though. Metalcore scene is trending nowadays and I think it's a bold move. Maybe it disappoints some Metal fans out there. But whattheheck, as long as they dont change totally. One of the great tracks are "Fever","The Last Fight" and "Your Betrayal". Matt Tuck, BFMV's guitarist once said that the main objective of this album is to please themselve rather than other people and critics. For me this album is good. Getting this album wont disappoint you and you'll have fun listening to their new songs.

Here is the tracklist:

1. "Your Betrayal" 4:51
2. "Fever" 3:57
3. "The Last Fight" 4:19
4. "A Place Where You Belong" 5:06
5. "Pleasure and Pain" 3:53
6. "Alone" 5:56
7. "Breaking Out, Breaking Down" 4:04
8. "Bittersweet Memories" 5:09
9. "Dignity" 4:29
10. "Begging for Mercy" 3:56
11. "Pretty on the Outside" 3:56
Total length:
49:33

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Ibanez Xiphos XP300FX review




Dark And Bold. The design itself defines the guitar. Whenever you look at it, aggression or heavy sounding is definitely will be on your mind. Indeed it is. The Ibanez Xiphos XP300FX is the lowest or shall I say the cheapest from the Xiphos series. However, being the cheapest isn't an obstacle to match with other metal guitar brands.



Besides the shape of this guitar, nothing is ..fancy. Its bridge is a non-attractive looking fixed bridge. The pickups on these guitars are made by Ibanez which I found it quite okay. The sound of this thing is certainly heavy. You can get great tones with this guitar. I played metal riffs for this guitar and I'm happy with it. It gives you that crunchy heavy rhythm tone. Moreover, it totally stands out in crowd. Nice quick neck that allows me to play fast riffs is amazing. I have nothing to complain about the frets. Large frets ease the action.

There are a few concerns about this guitar for me though. First, the shape. Yeah, I know it seems ridiculous to complain about the shape now since most of you guys out there and I like the shape very much. That shape would cost you extra money to yourself a guitar case that can fit it. Another one is, the positioning of your right hand is quite different when you play this guitar. You will find your right hand slightly in front as the bridge of this guitar is positioned. It will take a while to
get used to it. Think again,these problems are also found on the Explorer shaped guitars or "X" - shaped guitars. Please note, the Gibson/Epiphone Explorers are quite different in every term.

Final say from me is, if you like it, just get it. If you dont, just dont think about getting one because you'll get sick of it in the end. For a guitar that is below RM1500 it's great. Just great.

the specs:

neck type 3pc Wizard Il Maple neck
body Mahogany body
fret Jumbo frets
bridge Fixed bridge
neck pu INF3 (H) neck pu
bridge pu INF4 (H) bridge pu
hardware color Cosmo Black