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First i must say something about Yngwie. Air, in my opinion, will go down as a piece that will be with the likes of the othe rgreat composers. but w/e that does not matter and has no bearing on this amazing piece of MUSIC.
everyone on this review board has comments and comparssions about yngwie and his style and how becker is his only match. Songs that this is prevalent on is Mabel's Fatal FAble, Dweller in the Cellar, Temple of the Absurd and Eleven Blue Egyptians. This album has nothing to do with.
What makes this album stand out is his ability to feel the harmonic minor scale, were as most players force it out. Who cares. they are both in it to make beautiful shred music so why put them in a battle and most of u seem to forget that Becker composed these songs through the ages fo 16-18 as oppose to Yngwie who was in his 20s.
Emotional songs that stick out to me are Altitudes (this song will give you goosebumps), Air and Opus Pocus. Im not a big fan of the song Perpetual Burn but the album is a must ahve for any aspiring guitarist and a good ad to your cd collection.
If you're into shredding and flashy eighties guitar playing you must know this album. If you like metal and fast guitar solos you'll love this album. This album has great great songs and great guitar work. Highly technical guitar playing from one of the greatest shredders. It's recommended for all shredders and friends of eighties fast guitar music. It's a classic in it's own genre.
Who needs a song by song review by some schlep. If you like or appreciate rock guitar, this is a must have. That always kills me. Bottom line, this is guitar playing at a talent level most will never reach or even relate to. Very underrated guitar player, cruelly dealt a bad hand while in his prime. Very deserving of your purchase.
The fear amplified by the darknress; The anger. I have never heard anything quite like "Dweller in the cellar" as far as emotional content, I was (of course) Blasting this whole album as loudly as possible in the car the other day and got so caught up in the emotion of this song that I found myself in tears. Probably freaking out the other drivers around me as well.Like a tragic opera I can see (hear) the story of this woeful wraith alone with moan, and sorrow locked within this cellar, shrieking, screaming and wailing to be set free, The horror. When this beautiful misery ends at the triumphant break, this is where I picture the callar door finally flung open and our sad little wraith is set free, truely joyous and free to run in the sunlight, until the outro, when the mood changes.and our wraith becomes beast seeking only his revenge on those who imprisoned him. Powerful stuff.
All others on this album are, by comparison, expendable. (5/5)Temple of the Absurd: features Marty Friedman and really is a speedy, chunky, shred-fest, as you might expect. (3/5)Dweller in the Cellar: holds together pretty well: he's going for a spooky vibe here and captures it well, which makes it slightly more interesting than some of the other selections on the CD, but with that said, it isn't THAT interesting, and hold your interest for over six minutes. (4/5)Mabel's Fatal Fable: intro is interesting and good at the start of its resolution, but that same resolution takes far too long to resolve. this is the one that, regardless of what you hear in the next ten or twenty years, you'll keep coming back to it.
(from what I understand, much of it was performed with both parts on just one guitar, but even if that's a rumour, it's still an absolutely brilliant and beautiful composition). (5/5)Air: this is sheer brilliance - everything fits nicely together and it's just a thing of sheer beauty. you'll get a few songs from each that stay on your play-list for decades to come.Aside: I question the drums in spots on this CD: in some spots it sounds almost as though the guitar parts were recorded first, and then they had Atma Anur (a very good drummer) listen in headphones a few times and then bang away until they got a decent take. truly mind-boggling from a technical difficulty standpoint, though. then what sounds like an improv'ish solo, back into the main theme pretty much until the end. The final outro section is also very interesting and somewhat eerie sounding - this is tied with "Air" for my favorite on the CD.
then an interesting tapping section, with the stuff in your left ear slightly different and complementary to what's in your right ear: very impressive from a composition standpoint. Beautiful. (4/5)Overall: 4/5. (3/5)Opus Pocus: much like the first song, but a bit more melodic and interesting while being a bit less stunning.
not heavy at all, but that's not a problem to me. For good, classic shredding, get this and YJM's Rising Force. next section is just great though: like some high-octane Paganini or some such - just the sort of stuff you LOVE from a neo-classical shredder: cleanly played and ultra-high speed and very classical feel to it. On the flip side there is some jaw-dropping going on here, but the blues jam at the end seems disconnected. (4/5)Perpetual Burn: very fast, insane, all over the place, (etc.). the eastern feel bears some resemblance to Vai's "Fire Garden Suite" (especially if you include Bangkok). I recently got this for the first time: something I should've owned many moons ago.
this is strikingly similar to Malmsteen's early work. It's fun, and is the only spot on the CD where he just bangs out some stuff over a blues rhythm, but I'd rather they just made a single song based thereupon, rather than sticking at the end of an otherwise eastern-sounding thing. unfortunately for Jason, Vai really puts together a MUCH more interesting composition. A lot of people like this but I find it a little disjointed and lacking in composition. Overall: fun with some high points, but a bit forgettable.
Pure genius. dual clean-toned guitars complementing and occcasionally counterpointing each other. Overall, daunting guitar: the sweep picking and the two-channel tapping pieces are exciting and interesting, but overall the rest of it is, while challenging, just not the most interesting thing around: you've heard it before from YJM, V.Moore, Macalpine, Gilbert, Batio, (etc.).would be a great study piece, though. (3/5)Eleven Blue Egyptians: eastern sounding until the end resolves with a blues jam. breaks into a sweep-picking section followed by a flat/alternate-picking section, both of which are enormously fast, back to some melodic/heavier guitar. Marty's solos are actually very interesting: it seems as though Jason is a bit more overtly neo-classical, while Marty possesses something that's distinctly his own "style". No complaints here at all: flawless.
But not without it's jaw-dropping moments: kinda cool to listen to the two guys in each channel, playing such difficult stuff in perfect unison. but not without it's jaw-dropping moments, though: there's a sweep-picking section here that's incredible, and overall the composition isn't bad. anyway, so here's a song by song review of this neo-classical shredder "classic" for those who do not yet own this and are just looking for something more about "that Jason Becker guy they saw on you-tube".Altitudes: slowish tempo and starts out with some pretty and clean-toned melodic gutiar. but if you do manage to last through the first five minutes, you are rewarded with some excellent quality "neo-classical shredding" at the end, which fits the rhythm exceptionally well. I wish the whole song were more like the ending, though. (unless you like freakishly fast chugging on the low strings with Friedman/Becker solos over the top). in these days of perfect synchronicity between, say, Portnoy and Petrucci, the drums on here just don't always cut it. but while that's cool and something to bear witness to, unfortunately you won't keep coming back for the music itself.
but again: you've heard this a million times before from all the various shredders (especially Yngwie), and in general the different sections don't hold together into a cohesive whole all that well. really rips of the fretboard. This one is not. a bit loose and uninteresting in terms of composition, though. very good stuff: an early shred-metal classic. but as good as the guy is, they just don't always sound very fitting or entirely that well thought out.
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