The “Rainbow Morningstar” CD opens with "Crystal", an interesting combination of flowing melodic space and Dub rhythms. Two or three layers of guitar lines are soon introduced, one being a slow wah'd acidic sound, though still communicating a feeling of serenity. The track then winds down as a rumbling sonic meltdown. What's interesting is how it transitions from the melodic to the intense... it just sort of happened without my really noticing it. An excellent tune. Other highlights include "Cosmic Blue", an aptly titled song featuring beautiful psychedelic guitar soloing against a deep Dub bassline. "Audio Escape" is a more fiery and varied track on which diverse guitar sounds battle with a banquet of electronics. "Mental Mirage" features screaming sonic acid guitar, deep flowing drones, and an underlying metallic feel. And once again it's against that Dub-like rhythm Wingate seems so fond of which provides for an interesting contrast. "Heavy Mind" includes similar killer guitar work. It's intense but highly atmospheric, and I also hear clear traces of Wingate's Hendrix influences. Finally, "Warning Levels" is loaded with bubbling freaky electronics, symphonic keyboards, and totally trippy space guitars. Probably the best example on the album of his guitar style where so much is said with so few notes. And in this sense Wingate brings to mind Dave Gilmour, a guitarist who could say more in a handful of notes than the most proficient shred guitarist could say in a thousand. Among the highlights on “Blue Void” is "Space Echoes", a totally spaced rumbling electronic track. You can feel the space waves piercing both ears and soaring through your brain. Soon after I became thoroughly hypnotized as the music transitioned into a slowly drifting mantric stroll through the cosmos. "Lost In Time" is an atmospheric piece that very nicely blends pleasant high tones and low reverberating drones. "Creative Reality" is a kick ass HOT rockin' psychedelic tune. As if Hendrix got put in the transporter and his musical molecules got completely juxtapositioned when reassembled. Definitely one of my favorites on all three CD's. "Spacephonics" is another killer tripped out acid space track. "Electric Sky" is a slow droning journey with both tasteful melodic soloing and screaming acid shredding. And "Fallen Sunrise" is an intense prog rock styled guitar march. "Space Noise" is a short and appropriately titled opening track on the “CosmicEcho” CD featuring pure sonic guitar and space electronics. "Atomic Planet" is a drifting Bluesy spacey jam tune along the Hendrix/Trower axis. Valium paced but peacefully melodic. "Dreams" is an easy-paced acid jam trip alongside a high pitched ethereal keyboard line. "Noise Shift" is another track that stands out as one of my favorite among the three CD's. It's a simple tune, but mixes nice jamming guitar with chaotic (but controlled) crazed guitars, and a proggy feel as well. "Paradise Found" is similar and another favorite. "Mental Prism" is a thundering metallic acidic electronic space excursion that reminds me a lot of the title opening track from Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds. Yet another favorite. "Star Voyage" is a still cosmic, but somewhat experimental and minimalist acid rocker. And "Cloudy Night" features some mucho cool space funk!! Got my head boppin' big time as I cut the cosmic rug with this one. “Liquid Sky” I have to say at the outset that this AcidGuitarKing has got to be one of the more passionate and purely cosmic psychedelic musicians on the current scene. Listening to the music on Liquid Sky is like strapping yourself into a paisley colored magic carpet and taking off toward the heavens. But it's the journey that Wingate is concerned with... his slow but mindbending style making powerful musical statements rather than mere brain shattering or fretboard shredding. Space is the place, and Wingate excels at conscious altering melodies that will provide you with the aural equivalent of a full bowl of nature's best. The whole album flows seamlessly from one track to the next such that I never concerned myself with individual titles. Nice... very nice. On his “Savage Saint” CD, the AcidGuitarKing travels down a much harder rocking road. The pace of the music is trademark Wingate but the approach is meaner and ballsier than the more floating nature of the music on Liquid Sky. It's great to hear him rocking out, his solos as passionate as ever but in a more kick-yer-ass style. The atmosphere is dark and the guitar licks are an acidic blend of doom, goth, psychedelia and metal. Just dig the layered dueling guitars on the 9 minute "Death March". **** mean **** yeah!! My favorite track on the CD. "Living Free" is another heavy rocking highlight that will get yer toes tappin and yer head boppin. And "Kiss My Axe" is Hendrix gone thundering doom metal. Another fine set from the AcidGuitarKing. “Mother”, includes plenty of the potent and highly passionate AcidGuitarKing sound. We've got Wingate's trademark thudding, volcanic acid metal marching with his expressive guitar soloing over the top. But Mike cranks out some upbeat shred guitar too on tracks like "Return Drive To Forever", "Trip Head" and "Space Sleep". "Trip Head" is an excellent rock n roll tune that might be a little something for Van Halen fans who are amenable to metallic stoner psychedelia. (Despite the analogy, Mike tones down the flash enough that you can absorb the melody.) And "Space Sleep" is one of the albums highlights, on which Wingate rocks hard in his slow but ultra powerful style, evolving through multiple themes across the songs 10 minute length and includes oodles of ripping guitar work over a nicely stoned foundation. "Star Of Orion" is an aptly titled song (penned by Helene Wingate) that consists of beautiful spacey keys and a mind-bending guitar sound that creates a thoroughly cosmic journey. The atmosphere is serene throughout most of the song, but a more commanding guitar takes over to bring us to the conclusion. The albums other longish track, "In The Land Of AcidGuitarKing", is another standout track that is brimming with the trademark Wingate fire and emotion. And I really dig the drugged Blues of "Balance" and "Long Slow Death". An overall outstanding album. Judging by the song titles, “Savage Saint II” has a pretty dark theme, and the equally dark music matches up perfectly with the titles. Songs like "Nomad", "Black 13" and "Face", all feature the classic AcidGuitarKing traveling melodic leads building upon a stoned base. And dig that tripped out shimmering guitar on "D.O.A.". This is one of those tracks I'd play for someone who asks, "why does he call himself AcidGuitarKing"? At less than three minutes "Slow Death" is the shortest track on the album, but boy does it pack a punch in terms of darkness and intensity. If this got developed a bit further it would be great for a horror movie. Both this and the next track, "R.I.P.", are embellished with haunting but very spacey atmospherics. "Junkie Parade" showcases Wingate's molten brand of drugged out stoner metal with the guitar adding the color and fire. Eight great minutes of crushing power and ripping psych guitar. "January 10th" and "Darkness Dawn" are both very cool Bluesy stoned psych rockers. There's some pretty swingin guitar on "Revenge", though it's also one of the more purely acidic tracks of the set. "In Memory Of" turns on the spotlight with some absolutely ripping mindfucked psych-rock guitar. Less than 4 minutes... damn!! I wanted this sucker to keep on going. BUT... my disappointment didn't last as the heavy trip theme continues on the next track, "Outlaw King", which includes cosmic rockin dual guitars. Another excellent album. And what better follow up to Savage Saint II could there be than “Savage Saint III” I don't have a lot to say about individual tracks on this album (though "Mirror" is an interesting tune, having a bit of a 60's feel). But don't think for moment that means Savage Saint III is a lesser performance than the others. This is a ripping hard psych-rock set and includes some of the most killer wah'd, wailing and winding guitar work heard on any of the AcidGuitarKing albums. And though this doesn't deviate radically from Wingate's usual style, there are moments in which he sounds like an acid drenched version of Rick Ray, another hard rock guitarist I've written much about in Aural Innovations. Hendrix also comes to mind much more than usual, particularly on "Psychedelic Sub". And the rest is just deliciously hard and ultra stoned psycho-acid-metal, played with the usual AcidGuitarKing flair for passion and narrative flow. “Nine” is very different from the three previous CD's, being more reminiscent of the earlier AcidGuitarKing albums I was introduced to. The music is much more mellow, spacey and meditative, far less aggressive, focusing more on serenity, and includes the beautiful keyboard work of Helene Wingate. Songs like "In Memory", "Star Tripper" and "Void Of Feeling" all consist of spacey, droning symphonics, with lush keyboards and - particularly on "In Memory" - killer shimmering guitar melodies. "Grave Voice" is a nice stoned, ripping psych rocker that I enjoyed. "Darkness" is a haunting, spaced out piece with a strange sense of alien mystery and suspense. At 9 minutes, "For My God" is the one long track on the album, and consists of excellent droning, spacey and totally drugged psychedelic AcidGuitarKing rock. I love the combination of keyboards and trip guitar. Finally, "Gloomy Days" and "Forever & More" are a little different, both injecting an electro feel into the music. "Gloomy Days" has a spacey electro-pop sound, and a tripping guitar melody that sounds like it would be at home on a film soundtrack. And "Forever & More" is another electro soundtrack styled tune, with a cosmic Reggae groove and a bit of a New Age meditational feel. Really nice stuff that probably would appeal to fans of more atmospheric and uplifting psychedelia. Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz of AuralInnovations.com Title: Distant Signals Artist: Acid Guitar King Each string of this guy’s guitar is laced with LSD. Lovers of Ozrics, SubArachnoid Space and Unlimbo, space-jamming on guitars with drums and swirling keyboards. They are totally tripping in space with psychedelic blessed-out noodling like Bevis Frond or Clapton on heroin. ‘Sir Tripsalot’ is a tribute to the medieval knights coming up on shrooms in their castle or perhaps it’s the ergot in their bread. Great. To be honest, though, I don’t understand what the titles are about but who cares? This is just tripping music, if you don’t take acid to it you’ll trip like fuck anyway. About a week until comedown, was that 7 sunrises? How many is five? What does ‘means’ mean? This is the general feel of ‘Distant Signal’. It’s all done tongue-in-cheek and is really just a huge long jamming session split and done as consecutive tracks. Loads of overdriven, wah-wah and distorted lo-fi acid rock done the DIY way, great for summer nights out under the stars.–review from Astro Zombie E-zine