'Bass Invader' (cool title, by the way!) is the bass instrumental album by a guy called Martin Motnik, a professional bass player from Munich, Germany. All the music on this CD are played by Martin with his Ritter 5-string bass and amazing percussion work by none other than Gregg Bissonette (Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, David Lee Roth etc.).

His music has a great variety, ranging from a smooth fretless ballad to a speed number with extreme tapping à la Billy Sheehan to danceable Latin music, and all of them are very accessible and have catchy hooks. When I heard these tracks, I was amazed at the possibility of a single bass guitar. You can replace guitars and keyboards with a bass EASILY, as far as you're so good as Martin, though.

This album has basically no vocals, no keyboards and no guitars, but on track 1 "Bee On Speed" and on RUSH cover "YYZ" there's a guest appearance by Swedish freak guitar virtuoso Mattias IA Eklundh. My favorite track from the CD is the one called "Don't Forget To Floss!" where Martin uses an electric toothbrush. Funny, yet great idea. Let's see if an electric toothbrush can replace an electric drill!! RACER X cover "King Of The Monsters" is another awesome track done by bass... unbelievable.

When it comes to instrumental albums you either love or hate them, but Martin tried something out of the ordinary and managed to keep it interesting enough to listen to. Even if you don't like music without vocals, I assure you'll find this CD really enjoyable.

Martin Motnik, a name to remember!