What if all the great guitar heroes of Hard Rock and Heavy Metal move to Japan? Marty Friedman made the start 10 years ago. I know, I am an Asian women admirer too. Paul Gilbert is another example of ultimate guitar shredding followed by love for Japan. The ex-RACER X and MR. BIG axeman released his second full-length instrumental album, Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar, and Metal Temple is getting ready for another guitar experience.

After his first instrumental, successful, attempt Get Out Of My Yard, you wouldn't have to be a clairvoyant to understand what was coming. Paul Gilbert has proved his value in the past and his songwriting skills are remarkable. His technique is top notch and this gives him the freedom to create note/chord combinations of magnificent scale.

Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar captures the listener from the start with the excellent production, mid-tempo rhythms and melodic guitar lines. The intro of the song, Eudaimonia Overture, is a small demonstration of Gilbert's extreme tapping skills with some J.S. Bach's baroque scale example as an outro, followed by the Hard Rock major-scale The Rhino, which has some progressive elements that you can distinguish throughout the whole album (this is what you get when you are Portnoy's friend!). I Cannot Tell A Lie is the most melodic song of the record that could easily fit in any Satriani album (the remains from Gilbert's G3 collaboration with Joe!). Suite Modale is a sad classical piece by Ernest Bloch (American neo-classical composer) with gentle guitar dynamics and Paul's wife, Emi Gilbert, on the piano's smooth key touches. The Gargoyle is a pure Power Metal song that even the mighty Kai Hansen would envy. I Still Have That Other Girl is a nice instrumental cover of Elvis Costello's slobbery song that Gilbert produces beautifully here.
 
Overall, Silence Followed By A Deafening Roar is an instrumental album that can reach out to anyone that loves music, not only guitar players or Gilbert admirers.  The only thing that is up for grabs is who's gonna be the next habitant of Japan's guitar community.