Among the many thousands of songs that ever entered my ears, I have rarely listened to an album that rendered me speechless. The new album by Murfreesboro resident C.S. Brown has done just that. The album title, Galaxies is so apt.

In the ever-expansive Galaxies, C.S. Brown takes the listener on a journey beyond the stars with driving hard-rock ballads, emotional guitar shreds and almost enough ambiance to fill the entirety of the cosmos.

All you pop lovers be warned: there are no vocals. C.S. Brown’s most recent work is more of a showcase of skill and artistry than it is a space filler on commercial popular radio.

If you are a fan of the spacey ’80s-style hard-rock guitar sound, you will probably enjoy Brown’s creations. The multi-instrumentalist takes the demanding and lightning-fast guitar riffs of the era that brought us Whitesnake and Scorpions and mashes them head-on with the superior technology and audio production techniques available today. It is truly a spectacle.

With all the great musical moments that Galaxies offers, it can be a bit overwhelming. If you don’t have the stamina to listen to close to 45 minutes of Brown shredding the neck of a guitar, then you may have to take an occasional break. Galaxies offers few conventional hooks or simple melodies suitable for humming in the shower. What this album lacks in simplicity is balanced by virtuosity and a tailored approach to a completely original project.

This album has definitely earned its place among my very treasured and finite phone storage and is definitely worth a listen for those who appreciate the sound of a truly skilled musician.

Galaxies is available on Amazon; for more information, visit csbrownmusic.com.