Kelly Simonz’s Blind Faith – Sign of the Times

Kelly Simonz is a multi-talented instrumentalist and vocalist who delivers the whole album himself. I usually cringe at self-produced, self-played albums. Rarely do any of these produce great results. To be completely honest, this album could have used someone else’s touch in the production department. Not that it’s not well-produced, but someone else’s touch might have brought out certain elements and made this great album even better

Nevertheless, it is definitely worth acquiring.

At first it seems that the distorted guitars will take over the album and lead it in a heavier direction. That, fortunately, never happens.

Solitude is a beautiful classical guitar piece and Suite in B Minor is a classical piece played on the electric, both demonstrating that Simonz is more than a heavy metal guitarist. Another important element of this album is that it relies strongly on melodies. That’s something that most guitarists in today’s music tend to forget.

The strength of this album relies on the moments where Kelly dares to be different. The heavier songs could be anyone else’s (not meaning that they aren’t good), just that they lack the originality and sheer beauty of the other tracks.

Overall, it’s an album that’s worth having as it more than three quarters different and Simonz certainly knows how to perform.