From Rough Edge Reviews
GasHead - The Isolationist || 3.5 out of 4 rating
Let's just say this right off: GasHead is a superb band.
The first thing I noticed about "The Isolationist" is that just about all of the songs have enough hooks to keep the CD interesting throughout. Combine that with outstanding metal musicianship and this becomes one fine recording.

What I liked best about this CD is that the music was fun and easy to listen to. That's too often a difficult thing to say about a heavy metal CD, but GasHead makes it look easy with "The Isolationist." GasHead is a band that knows how to deliver a great recording and I wholly recommend this CD. The band even does a great cover of the Testament tune, "Disciples of the Watch."

From Marquee Magazine Feb 08
- Brian F. Johnson
Gashead || The Isolationist || FistMusic/Hapi Skratch Records || 3.5 out of 5

Since 2003, GasHead has set the standards for instrumental speed metal, but with this latest release, Gashead has finally added something to their band that they‚ve never had before, in the studio or on a stage ˜ a mic stand.

The Isolationist is the band‚s first full-length vocal album, produced by long-time Front Range guitar bad-ass Dave Beegle. Three of the vocal cuts are completed by local singer, James Brennan, while GasHead lead vocalist Josh Purdy holds down the majority of the tracks.

The addition of vocals has been carefully handled by the band. They add a lot without taking away from the hard-driving Satriani-style guitarwork that has always been the band‚s cornerstone. It‚s a slippery slope that so far the band has traversed miraculously. If the lyrics continue to be as strong in the future as the ones on The Isolationist, the band will have hit a stride that could carry them for some time.

MetalMeyhem.com "Unsigned in 2006"
GasHead - Knuckles Avec Sombreros
Review: This is some of the best music I've ever heard. Megadeth meets Joe Satriani. Heavy tight riffs with melodic soloing. This band does all instrumentals, but these are not just instrumentals. They're songs! There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Great stuff! I couln't get over how talented these three guys are. They sound like they've been playing together for years. The music has a great groove to it, and the soloing is not overdone. It's just enough to make the songs sound great. I can't say enough good things about these guys!
Favorite Tracks: All of them!
Least Favorite Tracks: None

Westword "Movers and Shakers of 2005"
Dec 22, 2005
GasHead, Knuckles Avec Sombreros (Fist Music). Instrumental thrash with an understated Latin sensibility, GasHead's successor to LandSpeedRecord takes humorous liberties by tweaking metal's big, bad, bloated sense of itself. Instead of snarling goats and inverted crosses, the Fort Collins-based trio raises Molotov cocktails in a gleeful toast to abstract science, hockey and the absurd. Shred alert! -- La Briola

Westword
Published: Thursday, April 7, 2005
GasHead
Knuckles Avec Sombreros (Hapi Skratch Records)
By John La Briola
Despite the glaring lack of an evil, fire-snorting frontman, instrumental thrash trio GasHead avoids the kind of cliches that plague most aggressive-metal acts -- everything from overemphasizing Satan to celebrating global annihilation. Instead, the Fort Collins-based outfit injects its headbanging with humor and occasional Latin-flavored inflections. "Benediction," the album's opener, defies convention with an unlikely swing beat and a brooding narrator who toasts the album's guiding light (a hero named Atomic GasHead) with a round of Molotov cocktails. From that point onward, the boys shred in spades, showcasing six-string shootouts between lead and rhythm guitarists Mike Lopez and Derek Maness, while hide-beater Nate Scofield conducts a double-kick clinic. Polished production by local luminary Dave Beegle fleshes out a relentlessly heavy batch of tunes that hark back to the first wave of crunchy metallurgists Megadeth and Testament. Paying homage to Joe Satriani and Steve Vai (along with Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote, during "Into the Glass"), GasHead more than compensates for any absence of a bile-spewing leader. Stripped down to the basics, this stuff still packs a punch.

Hyperactive Magazine
Issue No.7
Review of Knuckles Avec Sombreros by Tamara McCollough
This Ft. Collins trio continues its ode to "instru-metal" nefariousness with it's second release, and manages to creep you out without saying a word. Despite the eye-rolling name, GasHead delivers tight, vehement tracks, featuring expeditious percussion by Nate Scofield and righteous riffs from tag-team guitarists Mike Lopez and Derek Maness. "Atomic GasHead" bears traditional hardcore elements, similar to Pantera and Megadeth, getting listeners pumped and pitiless. "Entangled....Spooky At a Distance" offers an exception to the instrumental theme with a guest vocalist --- Satan. Between the double-bashing drums and precise axe-shredding, GasHead drops what fans, bored with the current state of metal, have been craving for.

RoughEdge Reviews
Reviewed by Christopher J. Kelter
I'll be honest ˆ I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I put GasHead's "Knuckles Avec Sombreros" into the CD player. The artwork suggested something less than heavy metal or hard rock for that matter ˆ it evoked an image more fitting for Los Lonely Boys, assuming they were modern rockers rather than Tex-Mex kings. The title was just flat out confusing - "Knuckles Avec Sombreros"? English, French, and Spanish are all represented in the album title with nary a link among them.So what's "Knuckles Avec Sombreros" all about? Well, it's about living in the moment with shredding being the order of the day. Co-lead guitarists Mike Lopez and Derek Maness shred their way into six-string bliss on every track. While not entirely over-the-top, it's pretty clear to me that restraint wasn't necessarily the first thing these cohorts in guitar mayhem concerned themselves with upon waking up each day. Nine original songs are augmented by two particularly impressive cover songs. The originals are up-tempo rockers that are uplifting and expressive without being too weighty for their own sake. The covers include a balls-out expanded heavy duty version of George Lynch's guitar solo track "Without Warning" while a fairly faithful rendition of Def Leppard's instrumental classic "Switch 625" gets an honest treatment from the band. Technical proficiency doesn't get in the way of having fun with these guys. GasHead show a strong sense of humor (despite a lack of lyrics/vocals except for the intro track) and playfulness missing from most artists' outward musical expressions. There is a lot of joy expressed on "Knuckles Avec Sombreros" and it's nice to hear for a change.I thoroughly enjoyed "Knuckles Avec Sombreros" and if you are the slightest bit interested in guitar instrumentals that GasHead are worth checking out.

Stewart Mason, All Music Guide
It seems like it would be impossible for instrumental music to be tongue in cheek, and one particularly wouldn't expect overt humor from a speed metal trio, but the second album by Colorado instrumental-metal trio (two lead guitarists and a drummer, plus various fill-in bassists) Gashead is a hoot and a half. From the nonsensical trilingual title and goofball cover art to an opening track, "Benediction," inspired by the immortal "Space Madness" episode of Ren and Stimpy, this is a group that doesn't take itself too seriously. And since self-seriousness has always been the doom of instrumental metal, that means that these 11 concise showcases for Mike Lopez and Derek Maness' exceedingly nimble "lotsa notes, really fast" guitars and Nate Scofield's "lotsa tom-tom hits, really really fast" drumming come across with casual mastery, as if they're just three guys showing off for their buddies. An album-closing cover of Def Leppard's early instrumental showcase "Switch 625" is a nice touch as well.

Andy G CD Services
Independent Distributor
Scotland
GasHead - LandSpeedRecord . Instrumental rock guitar and it's fabulous stuff. With electric guitar from Mike Lopez and guest appearence from Fourth Estate's Dave Beegle, this is a surging ride through rock guitar greatness, including a roaring cover of the Scorpions "Coast to Coast". If you are into rock guitar, then this is simply stunning stuff and one of the best of it's kind in a while.

20th Century Guitar
November 2003 Issue
Also on Hapi Skratch is an excellent 2003 CD from the Colorado-based GasHead, entitled "LandSpeedRecord". Propelled by the blazing electric guitar work of Mike Lopez and the drumming of Nate Scofield, GasHead's metal-rock instro sound is further filled out by a number of players including guitarist Dave Beegle, who also co-produced the 9 track instrumental set with Lopez. GasHead really smokes and the CD features excellent cover art to boot.

GasHead
LandspeedRecord
Review by Steffen Edwards
My office is way too small for this music! Few know this better than my employees who, with awed overtures, keep opening my door to ask me, "Who is this band?" It's clear to me that the latest reincarnation of Fort Collins-based guitarist/songwriter, Mike Lopez, has ignited a quick and enthusiastic response. Incorporated into this review are the first impressions of my employees. I'll proceed with my review as I would have, but adding here and there the "average grade" (AG) my staff gives each song as they hear them for the first time on this reputable debut.

Without a doubt, Mike Lopez is maturing well as a musician. Alone, this is a compliment that cannot be handed to all artists. With GasHead, he doesn't simply touch his toe to the pool of musical expression; he cannonballs into it, launching himself from the high dive as he does. LandSpeedRecord refreshes as a release that plunges into melody, song structure, dynamics, power, and technical expertise. You won't find any elementary 2 chord rock, filled with guttural screams and debris-laden dependence on angst and rhythm in a desperate effort to cover up any absence of talent. LandSpeedRecord misses nothing as an instrumental rock release, and while it inevitably draws parallels to forerunners Satriani and Vai, GasHead succeeds as exciting, visceral rock statement on it's own merit.

With musical visionary Dave Beegle at the controls as producer, the disc flips the nitrous oxide switch as soon as the starter turns over. A gut-wrenching launch is underway with the riff-heavy metal lines of "Propellant/Submarine Limousine" (AG 8). "El Cid" follows directly after, showcasing tremendous musical control and sensitivity as Lopez writes entrancing musical duets over a solid groove. It's akin to the sort of songwriting sensitivity that made Satriani one of the greats (AG 7). "Baja Lopez" on track five is one of my favorites! With Beegle laying down a dazzling flamenco base, Lopez exercises a flashy virtuoso layer that fulfills the hearts of rock and classical lovers alike (AG 9). The cinematic and soaring "Dead Orleans" on track six allows the listener a reflective and brooding reprieve (AG 6). "The Leaper", which follows, has a compelling melody line laid delicately and cleanly over a driving rhythm section that gives a nod to both Satriani and Megadeth aficionados (AG 7). "Post Hypnotic S" is a catatonic foray of musical inventiveness. It's a short minute and a half punctuated with abrupt meter changes, a thrashing ukulele solo sneaking up into your blind spot, and a pace that gives the song enough g-forces to change your complexion (AG 8). GasHead would seem to close out with a well-textured redo of the Scorpions "Coast To Coast" (AG 8), but wait, there's more! You'll have to get the CD to find that out.

Other compliments are deserved here too. GasHead's logo is, well, a gas! This is a brilliantly packaged CD, revealing not only the consummate visionary Mike Lopez is, but also the reputable support structure that is Hapi Skratch Records. Should GasHead deliver the goods live as well as they do on disc, and should they perpetuate their vision with sound business savvy, everyone's in for a wild ride!