Fastride is a hard rock band formed by guitarist/songwriter Ty Asoudegan. Ty, who attended Berklee College of Music, has been featured in Guitar Player Magazine and has been recognized by guitar icon Slash (Guns N Roses).
Ty got in touch and kindly sent over to me a copy of the band’s eponymous debut album to get my ears around and review. Pleased he did too.
Not only is Ty a top notch guitarist, in Fastride he has a tight band which makes a lot of noise in a good way. Eight tracks of in yer face hard rock with Ty’s guitar to the fore mixing in monster chunky riffs with some excellent soloing.
All enjoyable, powerful rockers sometimes with a bluesy edge, sometimes a bit proggy, all enjoyable. And when Ty lets rip, to the ears of this listener at least, somewhat reminiscent of early Ted Nugent.
Tire Slayer starts things off. A proper punchy rocker which hits hard. Big meaty riffing, monster backbeat, monster vocals. Grabs the attention straight away. Short, sharp shock out of the blocks.
Lords of the Night mixes things up style-wise going in the direction of something Queensryche might have done say on The Warning.
Canyon Kings back to the short, sharp, tight rockerama and rifferama. The sort of song you listen to whist driving the open top fast on a nice summer evening.
Sweet Candy similarly so. This for me sums up what Ty’s on to with Fastride. Has a bit of a retro 1980s feel to it and it blasts along powerfully with the full-throated vocals too. Check out the video:
Mo Alba changes the style again with a celtic undertone going on and the anthemic/tribal chanting. And more fine fretwork from Ty’s guitar. The man hath the chops. No doubt.
Wicked, Fastride and Windowpain all superb, enjoyable and powerfully delivered. The fun the band must have had recording the album coming over in the music too. All upbeat stuff.
Methinks Fastride are on to a winning formula here and boast a guitarist who delivers too. It’s not all shred and speed for the sake of it. The solos are all in fitting with the songs, well-paced, well-constructed and that little bit different.
Get on over to the band’s web site. Check out the songs on there. Given them a listen then snap up the album. Proper rockers from a band who know how to perform them. Ripsnorting….!
Here’s the link to visit: https://www.fastride.rocks/