Yossi Sassi – ‘Desert Butterflies’ [Review]

In an endless ocean of heavy-shredding soundalikes, instrumental rock guitarist Yossi Sassi stands out a mile. Fusing impressive compositional skills with masterful technique and no small amount of hard-earned feel, Sassi quickly dives into subtle time signature changes on the mellifluous Marty Friedman collaboration Orient Sun before heading into the exotic and uptempo Fata Morgana (featuring Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal of Guns N’ Roses), brought to life by Yossi Sassi’s secret weapon, the bouzoukitara.

Half bouzouki, half electric guitar, in Yossi Sassi’s hands the bouzoukitara (demonstrated here) becomes more than just a quirky gimmick. Fata Morgana illustrates this point with aplomb; a winning combination of Dream Theater-esque riffage and clear nods in the direction of Joe Satriani and present-day Steve Vai, Fata Morgana is run through with timbres unfamiliar yet inviting to Western ears. Meanwhile, Neo Ques starts off punchy and funky before Sassi’s unique touch enters and prevents it from sounding like a Satch pastiche.

With the vast majority of instrumental guitarists, you can look forward to little more than albums full of full-on wanking – but like the most revered guitar greats, Yossi Sassi’s bread and butter is pure, heartfelt melodicism. Vai, Satriani, Petrucci, Beck, Gilmour and co. are obvious influences – but they’re really just ingredients given the same weight as Sassi’s non-Western inspiration sources. Azadi‘s intense piano section is a case in point, as is the heartrendingly passionate Believe, where Mariangela Demurtas’ vocal stirs the soul whether you can understand all the lyrics or not.

Overall, the international journey that culminated in the creation of Desert Butterflies has clearly informed Yossi Sassi’s sense of harmony, melody, and rhythm – and turned this musical vagabond into a name and sound deserving of the brightest spotlights and biggest stages the guitar world has to offer.

TMMP RATING: 93%

Links / Listen

Yossi Sassi official website.

Follow TMMP on Twitter for more awesome music!

Posted on 10 February 2015