Jay Katana – Ballerina

Grab on to something – tonight we’ll talk about melodic metal guitar solos, blended with electro pop. Yes. That’s right. You heard me.

I said it before, I’ll say it again – learning about the invention of the genre “Electronic Dance Metal” alone felt like tasting a glass of expensive wine. Let that sink in – is it even possible to merge something like Electro and Metal to get something good out of it? Jay Katana proves that without a doubt it’s possible. More so, it’s awesome when done right.

With a fragile and glassy synth intro, the stage is set for the guitar themes of Katana. With “Ballerina”, he did those with passion and emotion, while the guitar tracks are mixed into the track quite defensively. (that’s not always the time – for example, in “No Time 2b Sorry” taken of the EP titled “Brighter than your future”, the guitar tracks take the lead.) What most of the original Katana tracks have in common is that unique signature adaption. It’s kind of hard to describe, but Katana doesn’t just play to a predefined music pattern, it feels more like the electro happening in the background would be his live band. (Yes, I know this explanation sounds strange.) Katana doesn’t try to leave his mark with the music but rather tries to blend in the electro part of the track, like being just another synth.

The Georgia based guitarist is a skilled musician when it comes to playing metal guitar. He did so in a band called “Pool Of Thorns”. So I guess he reached a point in his career where he wanted to check out where his limits are. My guess would be: there are NONE. The mixes of his tracks are done very carefully, rather soft than harsh, to leave the focus on the melody instead of the BOOM element I like to call “the quick fix”. Additionally, his tracks are inspiring others to do alternative solo versions of the original, that fact alone tells a story, doesn’t it.
Now you know what made me an instant fan. Make sure to check out his other works on youtube and soundcloud. Be prepared to be stunned.

Jay Katana on soundcloud
Jay Katana on youtube
Jay Katana website