When I first heard the tone, I thought it was either Joe Satriani or Eric Johnson. Superb transitions within melodic songs. Very diverse songs as well. The song Midnight has a Hendrix-like riff to it. Overall, very tight guitar playing for someone who has definitely been below the mainstream radar. Try it, you'll be happy you did!

Carl Culpepper is debut album. I have been listening to lots of jazz and fusion players so I'm picky about type of rock music (especially guitar albums). Apart from great technical skills, I found Carl writing very good too. I loved the whole album but I was attracted to Amplitude because of tracks like Aeralist, Tomcatting..etc. Buy it-you like Carl playing and writing!

has to be heard to be believed! virtuouso guitar playing.great selection that showcases Carl's brilliant musicianship.

This CD starts out in a predictable way for the genre with an ethereal Malmsteem like series of flurries, Prelude, leading into a powerful and precise Montrose like 1970's California style suspended chord power rocker, Cartwheels, minus the vocals ofcourse and then into, Tomcattin, which has an impressive array of overdubbed guitars and an infectuous, relentless beat. The Aerialist has been compared to Satriani's Flying In a Bluedream but it's closer to Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover in that it has a rhythmic and a strong melodic sensibility. It's the strongest original piece on the record. The straight Ronnie Montrose (guitarist for Edgar Winter) tribute Frankenstein is extremely well rendered with some nice surprises near the end. Ronnie made a career and got a Warner Brothers deal on the strength of his guitar work on this highly influential rock instrumental and Carl re-animates the beast with breathtaking precision. The record begins to slighly breakdown with the Billy Jack Boogie because rockabilly guitar is not a huge strength for Carl but it is the one track that a guitarist could perform in a power trio with some very impressive runs in the 2nd half of the song. Tracks 7 to 11 have their moments in regard to sound/spatial effects but it's really an entirely different feel from the previous material. The Aerialist and Frankenstein are alone worth the price of admission.