Marty Friedman premieres Undertow

Former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman has launched a promo for Undertow.

It’s lifted from his most recent solo album Inferno which was released earlier this year via Prosthetic. Hear the track below.

And Friedman, who now lives in Tokyo, says the video shows the real side of Japan – not the skewed version of the country usually seen in the West.

He says: “Undertow gives you a look at the Japan not usually seen by the typical Japanese exports like crazy TV shows, ultra-cute singers and anime. It shows a day in the life of Japan as the Japanese see it, not the stereotypical Western ‘Japanophile’ view of it.

“The video attempts to show that when you see a thing of beauty, there is often an undercurrent of true sadness and hardship behind the scenes, which creates the motivation to do something extraordinary.”

Friedman left Megadeth in 2000 and recently revealed he felt like a “fake” in the band as his interest in Japanese culture grew. He’s played with a string of J-pop artists since his move to Japan and praised Babymetal earlier this year, saying their sound was “fresh.”

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.