Progressive electric guitar mastermind Hedras Ramos has announced his new album Angels, and has previewed the upcoming eight-track effort by releasing its EDM-infused title track.
Due May 13, Angels is scheduled to arrive via Blood Blast Distribution, and will be Hedras’s first album since the release of Pagans in 2020.
Anyone familiar with the virtuoso’s repertoire will no doubt be accustomed to the level of elite technicality present in Angels, though you may not have expected the Latin-esque trap rhythm that accompanies the prog phenom’s chops.
Using a trusty Cort – a brand with whom he’s partnered on many occasions – that’s said to be a newly finished version of the X700 Mutility he helped design, Hedras leans heavily into his new sonic direction, locking his Fishman Fluence Modern humbuckers into a silky clean tone for surgical string-skipping and harmonic-infused licks.
Of course, there’s a healthy helping of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them scale runs to quench your fretboard firework thirst, too, as well as a three-strong cameo Felix Martin’s 16-string double-fretboard models.
You can check out the track – and the new Cort Mutility, which will be available later this year – in the video above.
“I'm a big fan of urban Latin music, trap, and EDM,” commented Hedras of the track’s direction. “I always imagined combining those styles with prog metal.”
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He added, “I had to dive deeply into electronic production and learn how to cohesively put all those elements in synergy with my own guitar ideas and create songs that have a meaning and a vibe. Angels is the result of that and part of a full album in that vein.”
The tracklisting for Angels can be found below.
- Latin Blood
- Circle
- Happy Raven
- Angels
- Lazy Monkey
- Coffee N Chill
- Future Math
- Walking Home
It's been an eventful 2022 so far for Hedras, who earlier this year teamed up once again with Cort to design the new-and-improved Fishman Fluence-loaded Duality II.
- Angels is available to preorder now via Blood Blast Distribution.
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Matt is a Senior Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.
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