Follow No One is the music project of two highly accomplished musicians from different parts of the world and two completely separate musical backgrounds – singer/songwriter and pianist Rich Hall, who’s originally from Nashville, Tennessee, but now based in Denver, Colorado, and guitar virtuoso Pedro Murino Almeida from Lisbon, Portugal, but with roots in Brazil. Rich began performing at a young age in theater, but found his true calling performing and writing music. Pedro was classically trained in music composition, with a successful career involving his own musical acts, and his work has been featured in film and video. Their dynamic style of rock music is influenced by such giants as Dream Theater, Alter Bridge, Foo Fighters, Avenged Sevenfold, Imagine Dragons and Three Days Grace.

The duo released their debut EP, simply titled “5“, in September 2017, which featured five hard-hitting tracks. (My review of the EP has been one of my most successful, earning nearly 300 views.) They followed in 2018 with an excellent cover of the David Bowie song “I’m Afraid of Americans”, then “Your Time of Dying” in March 2019. Now they’re back with a killer new single “Fear No Evil”, which dropped August 9th. The song was inspired by Hall’s study of Demonic Possession, a topic he has researched for many years. The track has had quite a journey during its creation, having been recorded in both Portugal and the U.S., and mixed by Jarrod Headley (Music Supervisor for the History Channel program Counting Cars), before finally being mastered in Dallas.

The track blasts open with an explosion of Almeida’s gritty, chugging guitar, while Hall fervently wails the opening lyrics. Almeida’s guitar soon settles into an intricate back and forth dance of melodic jangly riffs alternating with some serious shredding and mind-blowing distortion. Holy hell, this man can play the guitar! Fortified with a rock-solid rhythm section of crushing bass and thunderous percussion, Almeida lays down a riveting backdrop for Hall’s colorful, impassioned vocals as he plaintively laments:

I tried to believe
And the people let me down
I gave them every chance
Changed every circumstance
People you think you can trust
Are not even people at all
Imagination or indoctrination
Chipping away at the edges of your soul
See no evil
Hear no evil

“Fear No Evil” is a fantastic, powerhouse track that gets better with each listen. Almeida’s guitar work is among the best I’ve heard lately, and both he and Hall make a formidable pair, delivering outstanding and hard-driving rock with every song they release.

Connect with Follow No One:  Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Stream their music:  Soundcloud / Spotify / Tidal / Google Play / YouTube
Purchase:  iTunes / Amazon