Demian Heuke
is a German guitarist with several years’ experience of playing with Metal
bands, amongst which are Ravage (Ger), The Aura, N-Jected and Signs Of Wear. He
has also played in fellow guitarist Adrian Weiss’ band and is one half of the
acoustic guitar duo My Own Seasons. Frankly, most of these names are obscure to
me but it does indicate that Heuke has had several opportunities to hone his
craft. As indeed he has.
After having
listened to “Treumal” for some time now, I think that the album’s strongest
point is its listenability, despite the inherent barriers of being an
instrumental guitar album. You can easily dream about a story unfolding to the
‘soundtrack’ of whichever track is playing. And that’s a skill even the best
guitarists sometimes struggle to master.
From the furiously aggressive to the unconventional tempo
changes to the mellow to the shred to the
compelling arpeggios of an acoustic guitar, Heuke resorts to a wide range of
styles and sounds but he does it in a way that is pleasant to listen to.
“Treumal” does have its imperfections but on the
whole this is definitely an enjoyable album.
Throughout
2014, I’ve had the pleasure of discovering a handful of excellent solo guitar
debuts and I’m more than happy to add the name of Demian Heuke to that list.
