Marty Friedman - Wall of Sound (2017)

It's been almost thirty years since Marty Friedman's Cacophony hit the shred world. Afterward, some twenty years since Marty left Megadeth. A while after then he released a shocking New Age albums; Introduction and Scenes. We can say that Marty has gone three different path in all those years. We got a classic '80s Shrapnel + neo classical year in Cacophony (team up with Jason Becker), a thrash metal world in Megadeth and a new born far eastern style in his solo albums. Marty Friedman music has been then continued into several albums starting from Music for Speeding and so on. His new album for 2017 is Wall of Sound.  As expected, his style from this era is a mix between those three genres. Wall of Sound is exactly a guitar album that contained elements of '80s shred, some thrashy riff and Japanese scale that a signature to Marty Friedman.

"Self Pollution" is a thunderous song to begin. As we speaking, Marty has done the most extreme blend on his style in this album. Self Pollution is literally two songs put into one. After a thrashy opening, we immediately jump into a calm, Japanese feel melodic right inside this song. This feature may only be found in Marty Friedman world.

The second song "Sorrow and Madness" is feature with violin playing in it. The song constructed with elements of progressive metal, a new element that has attached in Marty Friedman albums recently. "Whiteworm" is a selected song that Marty produced a Youtube video clip for it. This one has a fluid sweeping intro before the nu-metal-like riff hit it. "For A Friend" is very mellow clean acoustic melody. A song strongly remind us to his Introduction era. "Pussy Ghost" is creative play with modern sounds that fall into nu-metal category. Then we also have a vocal song in "Something to Fight". This song described how Marty Friedman willing to enter modern metal world and reach for younger audience. The vocals was done by Jorgen Munkeby of Shining. "The Soldier" is another very Japanese scale exercise, which continued to "Miracle".

Overall, Wall of Sound from Marty Friedman is another strong released from our ex-Megadeth axeman. This album easily summarized all his adventurous years in Cacophony, Megadeth and his f*&^ing oriental scales. Unlike his previous release "Inferno" where Marty invited many guests to his party, Wall of Sound solely a solo album that focus to himself. Go get it, and listen the West and the East met in Marty Friedman universe.


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Marty Friedman - Wall of Sound (2017)

01. Self Pollution (5:54)
02. Sorrow and Madness (feat. Jinxx of Black Veil Brides) (6:41)
03. Streetlight (4:05)
04. Whiteworm (4:36)
05. For A Friend (3:19)
06. Pussy Ghost (feat. Shiv Mehra of Deafheaven) (5:58)
07. The Blackest Rose (3:40)
08. Something to Fight (feat. Jorgen Munkeby of Shining) (4:46)
09. The Soldier (3:58)
10. Miracle (3:54)
11. Last Lament (6:56)

Ultimate List of Metal Christmas Albums

Yes, they are huge list of heavy metal, hard rock, shredding guitars that jamming on the Christmas tunes! This is the (kind of) ultimate list of never-ending christmas / holiday song packed in these albums.


- Merry Axemas - A Guitar Christmas (2005) and More Guitar Christmas 
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A christmas guitar instrumental songs done by the guitar heroes of our time. Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Steve Morse, Jeff Beck, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, Zakk Wylde etc. This is a must have album for guitar maniac.

- Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Christmas Trilogy (1996-2004)
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Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO) is legend-wait-for-it-ary project that really put christmas tunes into super awesome form. TSO arranged at least three full christmas / holiday albums with guitar solos and symphonic as their forefront compositions. The albums contained their first release : Christmas Eve and Other Stories (1996), The Christmas Attic (1998), Beethoven's Last Night (2000), The Lost Christmas Eve (2004) and newer albums.

- Steve Lukather - Santa-Mental (2003)
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Steve Lukather and friends doing christmas album. The "friends" are : Jeff Babko, John Piere, Gregg Bissonette, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Edgar Winter, Trevor Lukather, Simon Philips, Mike Landau etc. All packed in this creepy cover looking holiday album.

- A Proggy Christmas by the Prog World Orchestra (2012)
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This is a Christmas project featuring Neal Morse , Mike Portnoy, Steve Morse, Randy George etc. This is the most proggy christmas album circulating around the world. Prepare to be blown away...

- Jethro Tull Christmas Album (2009)
Buy it HERE
Ian Anderson, well, Jethro Tull doing christmas concert. These arrangement heavily involved Ian legendary flute playing. They are folk-prog-hard-rock in it!

Mark Wood – Turbow (2016)

Not before long, a variation of shred guitar rock now existed in violin form. Rock violinist Mark Wood has produced several albums in this form before, but his latest album , Turbow, is really going to blew up everyone. Turbow consisted of eight tracks, all full of violin-shred musics. Similar to what Michael Angelo Batio doing with guitar, the electric violin doing just great. Similar to what Lindsey Stirling done in dubstep, or if you remember, Vanessa Mae done in disco just few decades ago, the electric violin now have its own symphonic metal album.

Check the Youtube video relases by Mark before we speaks volume :

That is the opener of this "the most dangerous rock violin album ever".

No kidding, the rest of the songs are indeed in the highest standard of symphonic metal  we usually heard from shred guitarist. The 2nd song "Attitude Adjustment" is the only song featured a vocals. "Inferno" is prog-metal like composition, Its begin with staccato notes.  Mark Wood introduce the theme to make this song as epic as ever. "Wood's Bolero" is another top cut. This one set in flamenco influenced scale. Combined with flashy acoustic guitar, Wood's Bolero is going to set new history as the first record in combining symphonic metal, flamenco, and shred violin. "Fan The Blames" introduced nice violin intro, that show how awesome the fiddle can do in metal environment. A rather "mellow" tune can only found in "LuminoCity", where the violin back to do their best business in melancholy song. "Turbow" is a bit about Mark showing off his solo violin. The album ended with "Labor Of Love", a song that mirror the spirit of '80s hair metal spirit. The violin can do the riff as well.

There are so much energy in this album. The idea of violin in symphonic metal is awesome and Turbow do it in the best way. The only comments is just the violin trying hard to do what the guitar usually do. Nevertheless, Turbow show off many original exercised that typical and only best done with violin. Metal lover will find their beloved music revitalized with addition of violin as their new alternative instruments. Listen to this, seriously.

Metal Harem class : ******** nine stars out of ten

Mark Wood - electric violin
Elijah Wood  - drums
Laura Kaye
Steve Costello - guitars
David Z Rock - bass

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Mark Wood – Turbow (2016)

01. Fire ‘n Ice 05:38
02. Attitude Adjustment 07:03
03. Inferno 05:04
04. Wood’s Bolero 04:15
05. Fan The Flames 06:08
06. LuminoCity 04:47
07. Turbow 05:38
08. Labor Of Love 04:41

Steve Vai - Modern Primitive / Passion & Warfare (25th Anniversary Edition) (2016)

Frankly speaking, Steve Vai's Modern Primitive is modern recording of his primitive songs. Yes it is. In Steve's own words :

"I’m [giving] an extra CD with material that’s never been released. It’s music the I’ve either recorded or written in between Flex-Able and Passion and Warfare. If you’re familiar with Flex-Able, it’s a very strange record: I recorded it when I was 20. And if you listen to Passion and Warfare, it seems [like] a completely different guy. So what happened in between? Where’s the missing link?" 

"Seven to eight songs are already tracked, and they just need a couple of finishing touches," Vai added. "Then I’m gonna have the old band get together that I had back then, just to lay down some other tracks we used to perform in that period. So it’s new music and frankly it’s turning out to be one of my favorite records." 

A whole CD worth of new Vai music is released in June 2016, bundled as "Modern Primitive". What's so new about this cd is as describe here: The first is "Bop!", is strangely having more funky slap bass than Steve playing guitar. We got Steve Vai in bit of background. If you like combination of funk and mind blowing Steve Vai dynamic, here the music for you. "Dark Matter", "Mighty Messengers" and "The Lost Chord" are vocalize songs, Steve Vai's own singing over his composition. Oh please mr.Vai, we wanted new guitar instrumental music from you instead. Luckily there is "Upanishads", which is the purely done with guitars. This one sounds very Ultra Zone era also. Then  finally the 7th song, "And We Are One", which is the ballad tune in that magic numbering (the 7th song in all Steve Vai's album will be a ballad). Remind us to For The Love of God.  "Lights Are On" are another straightforward , well short of straightforward, guitar instrumental track. If you notice, in Modern Primitive we got lot of power bass line, as in this one. "No Pockets" is sound very '80s glam rock atmosphere with its guitar riff intro. Steve (still) singing in this one, probably under his Whitesnake era influence. And then we got three parts of "Pink and Blows Over", another very Frank Zappa-ish composition. The whole suite is kind of jazz dominant. The third movement is the most mind blowing, worth the wait.

Interesting collection to any of Steve Vai crazy music. Remind you, the "seriousness" of these tracks is understandably "left over" category. Indeed the recording show what it could be like if Steve Vai going to record a song in between his 1984 to 1990 "blank" era.

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Steve Vai - Modern Primitive / Passion & Warfare (25th Anniversary Edition) (2016)

CD1 - Modern Primitive:

01. Bop!
02. Dark Matter
03. Mighty Messengers
04. The Lost Chord
05. Upanishads
06. Fast Note People
07. And We Are One
08. Never Forever
09. Lights Are On
10. No Pockets
11. Pink And Blows Over: Part 1
12. Pink And Blows Over: Part 2 (Mars Attack)
13. Pink And Blows Over: Part 3 (Jazzbo Paddle-Foot)

CD2 - Passion And Warfare 25th Anniversary Edition:

01. Liberty
02. Erotic Nightmares
03. The Animal
04. Answers
05. The Riddle
06. Ballerina 12/24
07. For Love Of God
08. The Audience Ls Listening
09. I Would Love To
10. Blue Powder
11. Greasy Kid's Stuff
12. Alien Water Kiss
13. Sisters
14. Love Secrets
15. Lovely Elixir (Bonus)
16. And We Are One (Solo #2) (Bonus)
17. As Above (Bonus)
18. So Below (Bonus)

Top Ten Jazz Rock Instrumental Guitar Albums of the year 2015

Well, as metalhead we are also listen to our paralel world in jazz universe. Here's the compilation of last year most exciting guitar orientated albums. Mostly are pure jazz but some also integrated rock elements in it. The Top Ten order is just for fun.

01. Chuck Loeb, Wolfgang Haffner, Mitchel Forman & WDR Big Band Cologne - Metro 'Big Band Boom' (2015)
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A collaboration of guitarist Chuck Loeb with other fellow musicians. Chuck Loeb had done several albums collabs with other in this way. This METRO is not driven by one individual but by a collective: guitarist Chuck Loeb, keyboard player Mitchel Forman, and percussionist Wolfgang Haffner! The new CD falls somewhere in the middle of the stylistic poles of jazz: the rougher East Coast, and the softer West Coast.  Musicians:
Chuck Loeb (Guitar); Mitchel Forman (Keyboard); Wolfgang Haffner (Drums); Percussion – Roland Peil 

02. Pat Metheny - Hommage a Eberhard Weber (2015)
BUY IT HERE
In January 2015 musicians and listeners converged upon Stuttgarts Theaterhaus for two consecutive nights to celebrate the 75th birthday of Eberhard Weber. The concerts centered around a specially commissioned 35-minute suite by Pat Metheny, with whom Weber had played and recorded back in the 1970s. Featuring Metheny, the SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde, Gary Burton, bassist Scott Colley and Danny Gottlieb on drums, the composition was arranged around recordings of solos by Weber. Other performers during the two nights playing selections from Webers vast body of work were Webers longtime companions Jan Garbarek, Paul McCandless, Manfred Schoof and arranger Michael Gibbs, all drawing ovations from the packed house. A truly special event, this. - Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal.
Jan Garbarek (Sax); Pat Metheny (Guitar); Gary Burton (Vibraphone); Scott Colley (Double bass); Danny Gottlieb (Drums); Paul McCandless (Oboe, soprano sax); Eberhard Weber (Bass, from tapes); SWR Big Band (Helge Sunde, Michael Gibbs (conductors)).

03. John Patitucci Electric Guitar Quartet - Brooklyn (2015)
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This is kind of pure jazz - bass - guitar album, set in minimalistic quartet.
John Patitucci (Bass); Adam Rogers (Guitars); Steve Cardenas (Guitars); Brian Blade (Drums).

04. Steve Smith and Vital Information NYC Edition - Viewpoint (2015)
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Solo album of long time drummer Steve Smith.
Steve Smith (Drums); Mark Soskin (Piano, Fender Rhodes); Baron Browne (Bass); Andy Fusco (Alto saxophone); Vinny Valentino (Guitar); Walt Weiskopf (Tenor saxophone 2, 4).

05. Simon Phillips - Protocol III (2015)
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Simon Phillips with his 3rd Protocol album, guitarist Andy Timmons in charge.
Ernest Tibbs (Bass); Simon Phillips (Drums); Andy Timmons (Electric Guitar); Steve Weingart (Keyboards).

06. Steve Gadd Band - 70 Strong (2015)
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As the title suggest, Steve Gadd in 70 is still very strong and funky.
Steve Gadd (Drums); Mike Landau (Guitar); Larry Goldings (Organ); Jimmy Johnson (Bass); Walt Fowler (Trumpet).

07. Al Di Meola "Elysium"
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He came from the Land Of The Midnight Sun, sparkled on the jazz-rock stage as an Elegant Gypsy, came up trumps in the Casino with all the right chords and melodies, and his Splendido Hotel was the number one address for fusion fans around the globe.
Barry Miles - keyboards; Philippe Saisse - keyboards; Mario Parmisano - keyboards; Rhani Krija - percussion; Peter Kaszas - drums ; Al Di Meola - guitars

08. John Scofield - Past Present (2015)
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The nine exciting tunes Scofield penned on Past Present also reflects his philosophy on playing jazz music. He stresses the importance of being knowledgeable of the musics deep, complex roots while simultaneously being spontaneous and in the moment while performing it. For an artist with such a multifaceted discography as Scofields, getting to the root of jazz means channeling the blues, as demonstrated on the discs closing, titled-track.

Johns love for R&B and blues tends to inform all of his discs regarding of idiomatic styling. After all, his first guitar hero was the legendary B.B. King, who strummed very vocal-like single-note melodies. Singable melodies and infectious rhythms shine on the soul-jazz opener, Slinky, on which the guitar tickles an instantly catchy riff before Stewart underscores it with a supple 5/4 groove that suggests New Orleans second-line rhythm. Grenadier propels the momentum with a loping blues bass line while Scofield and Lovano trade soulful licks and tasty solos.

Past Present also highlights Scofields love for country music on the whimsical Chap Dance, which evokes both the wide-eyed Americana compositions of Aaron Copeland and the hoedown sophistication of Ornette Colemans harmolodics. Scofield says that the songs exuberant opening melody and spry rhythmic pulse remind him of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammersteins 1943 Broadway musical, Oklahoma!, particularly the scenes with the cowboys dancing in chaps and vests. 
John Scofield (Guitar); Joe Lovano (Tenor sax); Larry Grenadier (Bass); Bill Stewart  (Drums).

09. Scott Henderson "Vibe Station" (2015)
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Trio in jazz rock instrumental album.
Scott Henderson (Tribal Tech) - guitar; Alan Hertz - drums; Travis Carlton - bass

10. Jeff Richman - Hotwire (2015)
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Hotwire is the newest release by jazz guitarist Jeff Richman. The album features some of the best musicians in the world including drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Novak and Gergo Borlai, bassists Jimmy Haslip, Anthony Jackson and Dean Taba, Keyboardists George Whitty, Scott Kinsey, Mitchell Forman, Jeff Lorber and Gary Fukashima, horns by Brandon Fields and Jeff Beal, plus special guest - guitarist Mike Stern. Jeff has written nine original tunes from the funky 'Seven Up' to the fusion number 'Hit Spot' and even a melodic pop tune 'Chloe'.            
Jeff Richman, Mike Stern (Guitar); Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Novak, Gergo Borlai (Drums); Jimmy Haslip, Anthony Jackson, Dean Taba (Bass); George Whitty, Scott Kinsey, Mitchell Forman, Jeff Lorber, Gary Fukashima (Keyboards); Brandon Fields, Jeff Beal (Horns).

11. Eric Alexander - The Real Thing (2015)
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Hey, Pat Martino in it!
More than one jazz critic has claimed that listening to tenor saxman Eric Alexander unfettered and at length, is one of the greatest treats in jazz. This imposing improviser is reunited here with his mentor, the veteran pianist Harold Mabern and joined by another hot favorite, the legendary and amazing guitarist Pat Martino on three of the eight tracks. Add in the still stunning engineering of Rudy Van Gelder and the swing engendered by bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth and you have a formula for excellence, if ever there was one. Martino and Alexander perform together often in a variety of venues and their collaborations have produced some of the most inspired playing on disc.
Eric Alexander (tenor saxophone); Harold Mabern (piano); Joe Farnsworth (drums), Pat Martino (Guitar).

Top 10 Recommended Guitar Shred Albums of 2015

Sorry for a very late induction of 2015 Top 10 Recommended Shred Guitar Albums. The year was quite calm, Only few big names releasing their guitar orientated album. Nevertheless, Joe Satriani and Neil Schon did save the year with their release. The two top spots reserved to them as a they are indeed the godfathers of the genre. Here it is the Top 10 Recommended Guitar Shred Instrumental Albums of 2015.

written by @jullbei

01. Shockwave Supernova - Joe Satriani (2015)
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Joe Satriani assembly Marco Minnemann, Bryan Beller, and Mike Keneally to produced Shockwave Supernova. All Satch trademark tunes are available here. Full review

02. Vortex - Neal Schon  (2015)
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One of most productive all around rock guitarist, Neal Schon, well traverse into rock, jazz, R/B, funk and fusion. Vortex is a double CD and that always room for his musics.

03. Aerial Visions - Vinnie Moore (2015)
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Vinnie Moore come back to his solo work in Aerial Vision, after so many year we miss him in this kind of work. Joinning him is bassist Dave LaRue. As ex-Shrapnel generation, his works include blues and neo-classical metal. This album however provide more wider colors. A must have album. Full Review

04. Concrete Garden - Tony MacAlpine (2015)
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The 12th studio album from Tony. Concrete Gardens once again contained all shred guitar instrumentals. On this album, Tony supported by Aquiles Priester on all tracks and three other bassists. Jeff Loomis appeared on one song, "Square Circles". Some of the tracks are being recorded live with video, you can view it on EMG PickUp TV. Also Nili Brosh appeared on the live video. This is also Tony's album before he got struck by illness. Full Review

05. The Human Affliction - Paul Wardingham (2015)
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Paul Wardingham, the latest ultra fast shredder from Australia is on his second shred album. This is all about guitar and outer space theme. A brain blower for shred fanatics. Full review

06. Tres Caballeros - The Aristrocrats (2015)
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Being success with their first album,  these happy guys in The Aristocrats has pulled out their second studio album called (the) Tres Caballeros. Based on their album cover we may feel that the trio is very happy and enjoy much time jamming together. Not much rock band want to proclaimed their togetherness as solid as Disney's classic trio. As reminder, The Aristocrats is super talented band with Guthrie Govan on guitar, Bryan Beller bass and Marco Minneman drum. The GGBBMM is going to blow everyone's mind with their blazing progressive madness. Full review

07. Protocol 3 - Simon Phillips (2015)
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Legendary drummer Simon Phillips pulled out his solo drum shred album in Protocol III. The guitarist in charge is no other than Andy Timmons. This is a  jazz-rock, fusion type of album. Check it out.

08. Invent Your Future - Bunny Brunel (2015)
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Well, Bunny Brunel is session bassist mostly play in jazz. His fame was in Chick Corea and other jazz legends.  In this album, believe it or not, mr Bunny gathered top dogs in metal guitarist to help him. Listed is Tony MacAlpine, Julia Kosterova, Frank Gambale, and others. While in drum section, Virgil Donati is on the list as well. If you like bass , here is the ultimate album for you.

09. From the Wilderness - Thobbe Englund (2015)
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From the metal world, the entry is defended by Thobbe Englund. The Sabaton guitarist inaugurated his first solo instrumental guitar album in From the Wilderness. Totally shred album.

10. Life of Dante - Alexius September  (2015)
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And from the indie guitarist community, Life of Dante is work of Italian guitarist Alexius September. Some of the song featured well known drummer, Marco Minnemann. The works is totally in shred guitar style.

Notable mentioned :

Six String Renegade - Martin J. Andersen (2015)
BUY IT HERE
This is a semi instrumental hard rock album done by guitarist Martin J. Andersen. Six String Renegade is the debut album for Martin, who is the guitarist of Blindstone, hardrock / blues band from Danish. If you haven't heard about his name, google him now. The style has been around American blues and hard rock. Full review

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Enjoy other Top Ten lists:

Guitar Jazz Rock Album of the Year 2015 (new)
Guitar Albums of the Year 2014
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Metal Albums of the Year 2013
Guitar Albums of the Year 2013
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Metal Albums of the Year 2012
Guitar Albums of the Year 2012
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Metal Albums of the Year 2011
Guitar Albums of the Year 2011

Before the Storm - Thobbe Englund (2016)

Thobbe Englund, also spelled as Thorbjörn Englund, is Sabaton forefront guitarist. Thobbe coming to the band in 2012 when Sabaton undergo massive lineup chances. While on his duty in Sabaton, Thobbe manage to release two solo albums under his own name. The first one is "From the Wilderness" in 2015 and happened to be guitar instrumental album that will pleased many shred guitar fans. A year has passed and Thobbe back to his latest studio album called "Before the Storm". This album contained massive songs, about 20 tracks of them. Unlike From the Wilderness, in Before the Storm Thobbe embarked into semi-conceptual album with full featured singer to voice this album. As expected, From the Wilderness is very well composed in my listening. The album ranged from heavy tunes, all the way to epic ballad. All these songs interlude with many instrumental tracks that fall into symphonic metal and shred guitar in combination.

The album started with heavy, low tune singing, opener called "The End of Oil". We got to taste a classic power metal guitar riff through the song. In describing the song we need to referred to the element of Judas Priest and imagine putting them into power metal spirit! The second following track is "The Eye of the Storm", very much Sabaton in style and this one is the first instrumental overture we got. This then followed up with devilish tune on the third track "Our $oil" , which continued the storyline. "Waitng for the Water" is a rest for our ear as it is the first ballad to come.  "Mons Spiritus" is neo-classical instrumental, decorated with classical instrumental such as pizzicato violin voices and choirs. The real guitar teaser comes in "The Great White Open", which is very Yngwie Malmsteening in vibes.

There are bunch of songs coming next. At this point the style of the songs begin to diversed. "San Francisco" and even stronger is "Ain't It Grand" are songs that very Americanized, alternative rock in some weird form. "The Freak at the Sideshow" is featured with female singer. Other instrumental tracks to mentioned is "Saturday Night in Hell" , a theatrical movie score in style. As well the last two tracks.

Overall, Before the Storm is album with big range of music style, but mostly can put in the symphonic metal umbrella. The insertion of voice songs are not bad for fans that expected Thobbe to release a full instrumental album. Though the style quite differed from Sabaton, this album can stand its own uniqueness, evidence of Thobbe individual creative power outside the band. Very enjoyable album in the end, although a bit of exhausting with over 80 minutes of "exploration".

Metal Harem class: ********* eight stars out of ten

Before the Storm - Thorbjörn Englund (2016)
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1. The End of Oil
2. The Eye of the Storm (instrumental)
3. Our $oil
4. Waiting for the Water   
5. Mons Spiritus (instrumental)
6. The Great White Open  (instrumental)
7. Sixteen
8. Broken Dreams
9. Inspiration Well   (instrumental)  
10. San Francisco
11. I Know You Don't Mind
12. Ain't It Grand
13. The Ghost of Maria
14. As Time Goes By  (instrumental)
15. The Freak at the Sideshow
16. Why the Rum Is Always Gone   (instrumental)
17. Home to a Pirate
18. Saturday Night in Hell  (instrumental)
19. She Brings the Horizon  (instrumental)
20. Obrigado  (instrumental)

Thorbjorn / Thobbe Englund - all instruments

album review

Vinnie Moore - Aerial Visions (2015)

Vinnie Moore is back. He is one of the '80s Shrapnel top dog, having released at least seven studio albums ranging from neo-classic Time Oddysey all the way to modern and more general guitar instrumental style in his latest Into the Core. He is currently UFO guitarist and pretty busy with the band that his last studio album actually released as far as in 2009. Aerial Visions see Vinnie Moore worked again with Dave LaRue, in some of the tracks. As everyone know, LaRue is high profile bassist, serving Steve Morse and many other "shredders". Beside Dave, there are three more bassist in assistance to Vinnie. The drummer in charge is Richie Monica of Tantric.

The first song "Mustang Shuffle" is very much self explanatory. It's an American blues, mustang and on the road feel. It shuffle-d well under Vinnie dexterity playing, straight forward and easy stuff for everyone. Now the second song come with slightly arising in complexity. "Now's the Time" put a lot of melodic licks but still didn't let the listener too difficult passage to grasps. "Faith" is mid-to-slow tempo pastoral feel song with melodic play from the beginning of the song till the end. Those two songs are familiar to UFO fans since they were used by the band also.  On "Slam", Vinnie brings in some funk and then cool bass solo line in the middle. "La Grange" is ZZ Top cover and serves it well in this instrumental version, we can imagine the long beard Billy Gibbons' voice inside Vinnie's guitar. A rather sentimental stuff in on the next one, "Looking Back", is pretty reflective and bring in childhood memories. Although "Aerial Vision" is the album title, the song itself didn't have extra ordinary feature. It is a standard shred piece that can be enjoyed by everyone too. "The Dark Dream" is a perfect composition to put in movie soundtrack, where the antagonist walking down a dark passage with strong light from behind. That's how I get to imagine this song. "Calling Out" is another very melodic composition in the end. The last finale is "A Million Miles Gone" , with extra minutes, this song bring in the most climaxing shred and licks on the album.

Vinnie Moore have become more multi style guitarist.  Here, not a slight trace of his old neo-classical stuff found in Aerial Visions, instead a melodic compositions that run from mid to fast tempo. The songs flowed nicely from the first track to the end. While there are many wonderful ideas in the album, I think this album is one of Vinnie's most easy listening one. Wonderful guitar instrumental album, as always by Vinnie Moore.

Metal Harem class: ********** nine stars out of ten

Vinnie Moore - Aerial Visions (2015)
Buy it Here - Amazon

01. Mustang Shuffle
02. Now's the Time
03. Faith
04. Slam
05. La Grange (ZZ Top cover)
06. Looking Back
07. Aerial Vision
08. The Dark Dream
09. Calling Out
10. A Million Miles Gone

Vinnie Moore : guitars
Richie Monica (TANTRIC, POPPA CHUBBY) : drums

bass:
Dave LaRue (STEVE MORSE, FLYING COLORS, THE DREGS),
Rob DeLuca (UFO, SEBASTIAN BACH),
Dorian Heartsong (JASON BONHAM'S LED ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE)
Elliott Dean Rubinson (ULI JON ROTH, MSG)

Joe Satriani - Shockwave Supernova (2015)

He is one of most celebrated rock guitar instrumentalist of our age, Joe Satriani, has reach his 15th studio album with Shockwave Supernova. Although Satch begin his journey 30 years ago in the '80s, his music seems keep coming and coming. Unstoppable Moments as he describe in his previous album. In Shockwave Supernova a new concept introduce, and re-introduce. Shockwave Supernova as explained by Satch in the Youtube, Behind the Album episodes, are mostly materials taken from Unstoppable Moments. They are rewrite by  the moment Joe Satriani stopover in Singapore. One of other things that very interesting about S.S. is the backing band. Satch recruited the Aristocrats to back him up! Well, minus Guthrie Govan, only (Guthrie actually got his part in G4 tour organized by Joe). Marco Minnemann and Brian Beller are new gun to Joe, they are joined by long time Mike Keneally to form a new super band. The result quickly come to the surface, as the album sees many new ideas that harder to find in previous album.

Already the first song,  Shockwave Supernova, see the new sound coming in. This entrance song highlight is about the classic arpeggios-theme licks backed with Marco's progressive drummings. Satch still very much own his game with immediately Lost in a Memory, which is easily identified by fans with his Satch-style leading melody. There are 15 songs in this album. Those who traditionally attached to Joe Satriani, I can mentioned out are: In My Pocket, a satch-bogie one, San Francisco Blue, old timer bluesy tunes, and the flag ship song, If There Is No Heaven, brings us back to the standard Satriani's "catchy" simple drum beat. The other songs, we see many some fresh ideas. Its begin with Crazy Joe, where Marco got his first "difficult" task to handle the guitar that start with scattered blues lick to 16th notes. Marco's drumming come more frontal in On Peregrine Wings, where the double snare accent become the main theme on that song. While Mike Keneally got his keyboard highlight in Keep On Movin', although the main theme is kind of re-cycled old Satriani song we have listened in the past. Other interesting stuff keep coming, All Of My Life is pretty sweet all out mellow song in term of band playing, the percussion quite distinguished here. A Phase I'm Going Through see that reaching tenth song didn't mean the song writing become lessened in quality, in fact this song see another good song writing stuff that force us to listen it up to the end.

In short, this is a stunning album from Joe. This album benefit from intense song writing and backed with so much energy from Marco, Brian and Mike. The cliche about music chemistry is surely there. Hard to find one specific song that stand out because they all do. This album surely come above expectation. We can say that Joe Satriani's style is predictable, ehem, this album still easy to see that happened, but now with lot of details that make those familiar tunes become really awesome to revisited. Bring this one to your music station and let the Professor show us how the amazing things about guitar to be done.

Metal Harem class: ********** nine stars out of ten

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Joe Satriani - Shockwave Supernova (2015)

01. Shockwave Supernova
02. Lost In A Memory
03. Crazy Joey
04. In My Pocket
05. On Peregrine Wings
06. Cataclysmic
07. San Francisco Blue
08. Keep On Movin'
09. All Of My Life
10. A Phase I'm Going Through
11. Scarborough Stomp
12. Butterfly And Zebra
13. If There Is No Heaven
14. Stars Race Across The Sky
15. Goodbye Supernova


    Joe Satriani – guitar
    Mike Keneally – guitar, keyboard
    Marco Minnemann – drums
    Bryan Beller – bass
    John Cuniberti - producer

Paul Wardingham - The Human Affliction (2015)

The Human Affliction is a continuation of the themes that inspired Assimilate Regenerate....

Is the premise for the 2nd Paul Wardingham studio album, The Human Affliction. As we all know, Paul Wardingham is Australian shredder that took the world by storm with his futuristic licks in the debut album Assimilate Regenerate in 2011. Going strong with that released, Paul then hailed as one of the latest young shredder wave alike of Andy James, Christian Muenzner, and others. His second album was await by many. In this July, Paul will delivered his second album, although it is obviously a continuation to the previous one, this new one got more boost on electronic stuffs.

The album started with quite melodious "Manufactured Existence". Running in the progressive metal platform, this is all-in shreds that showcase highly dynamic song writing. It is five minutes composition but the licks flows, connecting each passage giving many unexpected turn of events every several bars. The second track is "Beyond Human", that gone more aggressive with a laser blast-like elements. Enjoy the dark futuristic theme that done by guitar leads, despite everything seems "beyond human", the melodic is fore fronted and easy to follow. Paul also reserved a slower tempo track with haunting melancholic melodic in "The End is the Beginning". With all the electronic infused licks swirling around, a track like "Earth 2.0" is a contrasting point that changed the storyline.

Overall, The Human Affliction is an album full of outer space theme licks. Paul can be given a big round applause for his effort in putting everything in perfect writing and formed a very solid conceptual album, an instrumental guitar album. The atmosphere  kicks in since the first note being played, consistently put listener to the journey of whatever chapter Paul want us to be in. This is the album that combined metal guitar and some kind of dubstep's electronic creativity. In this respect, Paul runs on his own invented style very well. To have this journey, pre-order the long awaited new album now!

Metal Harem class: ********** nine stars out of ten

Buy it Here - Amazon

Paul Wardingham - The Human Affliction (2015)

1. Manufactured Existence
2. Beyond Human
3. Synthetic Mind
4. The End is the Beginning
5. Convergence
6. Digital Apocalypse
7. Earth 2.0
8. Simulated Reality
9 . Destroy The Artilect
10 . Exodus
11. Burning Chrome

The Aristocrats - Tres Caballeros (2015)

Being success with their first album, Culture Crash (2013), these happy guys in The Aristocrats has pulled out their second studio album called (the) Tres Caballeros. Based on their album cover we may feel that the trio is very happy and enjoy much time jamming together. Not much rock band want to proclaimed their togetherness as solid as Disney's classic trio. As reminder, The Aristocrats is super talented band with Guthrie Govan on guitar, Bryan Beller bass and Marco Minneman drum. The GGBBMM is going to blow everyone's mind with their blazing progressive madness.

Tres Caballeros is direct continuation on Culture Crash with new 9 tracks of creative musics. Stupid 7 is begin with chicken picking-like riffs, the main melody see Guthrie experiment with some ugly over compressed distortion. The song is typical rock-funk-flamenco feel, understandably this is the flamenco orientated album. Another crazy catching tunes is in Texas Crazypants, with Texan and cowboys in your background imagination as listening to this. Of the mellow, "easy-listening" song is Pig's Day Off, sweet clean guitar melody around. Smuggler's Corridor is simple Latin infused progression , the band wrapped it nicely and provide us a vibrant sunshine feel. The Kentucky Meat Shower is a shower of country licks, another style that explored in this album. The album then closed with 11 minutes jam, Through The Flower is kind of back to ordinary shred guitar of the '80s.

Overall Tres Caballeros seems like a tune down of a lot of complicated thing and they offer more relax to stuffs. Focusing on Spanish theme, this album is one unique idea in the field of guitar instrumental album. Bryan Beller and Marco is the other three half of the band. Nothing much to be added except that they enjoy high time creating backing track for Guthrie to laid down his melody. Of course those are not ordinary supporter with two most talented guy on board. Final words, the tres caballeros is going to volar tu mente !

Metal Harem class: ********* eight stars out of ten

Buy it Here - Amazon

The Aristocrats - Tres Caballeros (2015)

01. Stupid 7
02. Jack s Back
03. Texas Crazypants
04. ZZ Top
05. Pig s Day Off
06. Smuggler s Corridor
07. Pressure Relief
08. The Kentucky Meat Shower
09. Through The Flower

Line Up:
guitarist Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson, Asia/GPS)
bassist Bryan Beller (Joe Satriani, Dethklok)
drummer Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani)

Martin J. Andersen - Six String Renegade (2015)

This is a semi instrumental hard rock album done by guitarist Martin J. Andersen. Six String Renegade is the debut album for Martin, who is the guitarist of Blindstone, hardrock / blues band from Danish. If you haven't heard about his name, google him now. The style has been around American blues and hard rock.

The first track is instrumental The Fire Burns Within , very much open for a fascinating guitar teasing hour ahead. Six String Renegade and Dirty Little Angel are blues rock that focus on vocal and also incredible amounts of blues solos inside. On the cover are notable The Trooper by Iron Maiden. The Trooper turned into backing track for Martin to lay out some killer licks and solos, if you are Iron Maiden fans do not missed this one. For the closing it is Anthem For Humanity, an nine minutes epic instrumental that guested by Torben Enevoldsen, Michael Denner (ex-Merciful Fate) and Soren Andersen.

Attractive package on this album, Six String Renegade, as the title suggest, is a celebration of guitar music and song. The instrumentals tracks are worth collected by shred fans while the vocalized song will please the blues rock fans because they are highly enjoyable. Another valuable addition from quite unknown guitarist into my collection.

Metal Harem class: ********* eight stars out of ten

Buy it Here - Amazon

Martin J. Andersen - Six String Renegade (2015)

01. The Fire Burns Within (instrumental)
02. Six String Renegade
03. Dirty Little Angel
04. Strange Dreams (Frank Marino cover) (instrumental)
05. Never Ending Climb
06. The Trooper (Iron Maiden cover) (instrumental)
07. Freak Flag Flying
08. Funky State Of Mind
09. Stranger (Johnny Winter cover) (instrumental)
10. Anthem For Humanity

Peter Bruun and Jesper Bunk on bass
Klaus Agerbo on drums
Martin J. Andersen on guitars and vocals
special guest Michael Denner, Torben Enevoldsen & Soren Andersen at "Anthem For Humanity"

Tony MacAlpine - Concrete Gardens (2015)

The 12th studio album from Tony. Concrete Gardens once again contained all shred guitar instrumentals. On this album, Tony supported by Aquiles Priester on all tracks and three other bassists. Jeff Loomis appeared on one song, "Square Circles". Some of the tracks are being recorded live with video, you can view it on EMG PickUp TV. Also Nili Brosh appeared on the live video.

Most of the songs done in progressive metal manners. "Exhibitionist Blvd." as the opener gives a concrete melodic licks, the song flows from one to the other parts smoothly. Mind blowing transitions and aggressive drumming. "The King's Rhapsody" is rather Djent-like, lots of dissonances scales, quite contrast from the first one. "Man In A Metal Cage" started with blasting drumming fills, the shreds on its full speed. "Poison Cookies" back to "average" tempo and melodic approach, suitable for beginner's ears. "Sierra Morena" is one of the album highlight, twin guitar attacks, odd metering, well, basically any progressive tricks and ideas put in together. It is continued to "Square Circles", Jeff Loomis joined in for a couple of bar jamming. These songs performed live in EMG TV studio Youtube channel. "Confessions Of A Medieval Monument" is kind having bit of power metal spirit. Tony closed the album with his trademark piano exercise, "Maiden's Wish" is quite a virtuoso pieces.

Concrete Gardens is one of Tony MacAlpine best album lately. Compare to his 2011 Self Title album, this one having more concrete basis to enjoy. The main menu is progressive metal, but it is done with excellence composition in it. Not just a blasting nowhere notes by average guitarist, Tony polished every song with great details. Aquiles Priester must enjoy playing on this album very much, his chops are top notch. This maybe the album where I really impressed by Aquiles after many years. Superb shred album that must be listened by all guitar lovers.

Favorite tracks: Exhibitionist Blvd, Napoleon's Puppet, Square Circles, Sierra Morena, Poison Cookies
Metal Harem class: ********** nine stars out of ten

Buy it Here - Amazon

Tony MacAlpine - Concrete Gardens (2015)

01. Exhibitionist Blvd.
02. The King's Rhapsody - see Videos
03. Man In A Metal Cage
04. Poison Cookies
05. Epic
06. Napoleon's Puppet
07. Sierra Morena - see Videos
08. Square Circles - see Video
09. Red Giant
10. Confessions Of A Medieval Monument
11. Concrete Gardens
12. Maiden's Wish

    Tony MacAlpine – guitar, keyboard, bass (tracks 2, 3, 5, 10), production
    Jeff Loomis – guitar solo (track 8)
    Nili Brosh - guitar
    Aquiles Priester – drums
    Pete Griffin – bass (tracks 1, 4, 6–8)
    Lucky Islam – bass (track 9)
    Sean Delson – bass (track 11)
    Adair Daufembach – mixing
    Seva – mastering
    Michael Mesker – executive production

Favorite Guitar Shred Instrumental Album of 2014

Year 2014 was another year full of shreds, here the list of my most favorite guitar album of the year.

Two big names that reserved the top of the list:

00. Paul Gilbert - Stone Pushing Uphill Man (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Paul recorded his favorite tunes and played it again in instrumental setting. Interesting licks and also, interesting choices of songs.

00. Marty Friedman - Inferno (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Marty is going ever heavier than before. His style in this so called 'modern rock guitar' is perhaps best shape in this album, Inferno.

01. Daniele Liverani - Fantasia (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Prolific guitar composer Daniele Liverani has finally put out album that stand out among others. Fantasia is all around guitar shred album, from neo-classic, prog metal to '80 rock.

02. Fabrizio Leo - Spectrum of My Past (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Spectrum of My Past is great album with all around styles. The album is simple and full of melodious hard rock licks.

03. Christian Muenzner - Beyond the Wall of Sleep (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

If you want something heavy and complexes, Christian will always blow your mind with this amazing instrumental album.

04. Adrian Weiss - Easy Game (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Adrian put out many new ideas in this fresh instrumental guitar album. All styles with mainly progressive and heavy metal.

05. Yossi Sassi - Desert Butterflies (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

An album full of oriental music with guitar in the foreground. Desert Butterflies will bring you to the Mid Eastern desert and dance on.

06. Demian Heuke - Treumal (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Pretty much twin album with Adrian Weiss'. All around instrumental album with many enjoyable phrases and licks.

07. Stephan Forte - Enigma Opera Black (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Going strong with his 2nd solo album, Stephan gives us more complexes music to tackle. Enigma Opera Black is a combo of neo-classical, prog and djent, pretty intense.

08. Andy Martongellia - Spiral Motion (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

A nice album to get introduce to new shredder, Andy. Various styles in rock, and quite heavy indeed.

09. Brian Larkin - Far Enough Into the Void (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Brian's Far Enough Into the Void is multi styles instrumental album ranging from hard rock to fusion.

10. Francesco Artusato Project - Our Dying Sun (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

As usual, the project gives us heavy and mind blowing progressive metal album.

11. Wayne Calford - Shred Alliance (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

Yes, literally a guitar shredder alliance in one album, from Michael Angelo Batio, Per Nillsson (Scar Symmetry)  and another dozen of guys.

12. Nicolas Waldo - Master Of the Universe (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

If you only need to hear neo-classical licks in every minutes, this is it.

NOTABLE KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTAL ALBUM 2014

Michael Pinnella - Ascension (2014)
Buy it Here - Review

If only Michael willing to hire guitarist to shred along with his keyboards, this gonna be top list shred album of 2014. Indeed the keys itself is sufficient.

OTHER NOTABLE ALBUMS
...that I missed in initial list:

Toomas Vanem - 1 (one) (2014)
buy it HERE

Hailed from Estonia, Toomas released 1 (one), which is an instrumental album with a mix of hard rock and fusion. His style is universe and it is clear he is very prolific in his instruments.

Metal Harem recommend 

AVAST Antivirus 2015