The Neoclassical Metal Thread
For this weekend's top ten list I've decided to go with the niche subgenre of Neoclassical Metal which was probably always going to be dominated by one titan of that particular sound as well as a single well-defined era:
01. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
03. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
05. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)
06. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
07. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
08. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
09. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
10. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
I just put together a custom neoclassical challenge chart
1. Symphony X – Twilight in Olympus
2. Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force – Rising Force
3. Marty Friedman – Dragon's Kiss
4. Galneryus – Under the Force of Courage
5. Vinnie Moore – Mind's Eye
6. Iron Mask – Hordes of the Brave
7. Magic Kingdom – Symphony of War
8. Space Odyssey – Embrace the Galaxy
9. Tony MacAlpine – Maximum Security
10. Concerto Moon – Rain Forest
11. Jason Becker – Perpetual Burn
12. Narnia - Awakening
13. Cacaphony – Speed Metal Symphony
14. Ring of Fire – The Oracle
15. Evil Masquerade – Welcome to the Show
16. Exmortus – Ride Forth
17. Impellitteeri – Stand in Line
18. Time Requiem – Time Requiem
19. Apocrypha – The Forgotten Scroll
20. Warmen – Beyond Abilities
21. Joey Trafolla – Out of the Sun
22. Majestric – Trinity Overture
23. Wolf Hoffman – Classical
24. Kenziker – The Prophecies
25. Patrick Rondat - Amphibia
Vinnie Moore - "Mind's Eye" (1986)
Delaware-based guitar virtuoso Vinnie Moore was a major influence on me as a young musician. I picked up his 1986 debut album “Mind’s Eye” on CD through my father who had spotted it for cheap in a second-hand store & thought I might like it some time in the very early 1990’s & I then followed it up by purchasing Vinnie’s 1991 third album “Meltdown” shortly afterwards, both proving to be important players in the shaping of who I wanted to be as a guitarist. Swedish icon Yngwie J. Malmsteen had already opened my eyes to the possibilities in regard to super-high velocity, ultra-technique-heavy instrumental guitar music but, despite the fact that Vinnie was clearly influenced by Yngwie, he offered something additional that gave him the edge over the great man in my opinion, at least from a compositional point of view. You see, Vinnie knew how to write great melodies & construct pieces that work as songs as well as they do demonstrations of his technical proficiencies. Yngwie wasn’t as adept in these areas & also tended to verge on the cheesy a lot more often. He also pushed the neoclassical component much further than Vinnie who used it more sparingly & subsequently gained maximum impact from it.
Vinnie was already very well connected when he recorded “Mind’s Eye” & you can see evidence of that in both the fact that the album was released on Mike Varney’s Shrapnel Records label (which would go on to become the premier label for this style of music shortly afterwards) & also in the amazing line-up of musicians he had supporting him. I would imagine that Mike had connected him with fellow Shrapnel shredder Tony MacAlpine who provides some amazingly accomplished keyboard work here for a multi-instrumentalist. Tony would release his debut solo album through Shrapnel the following year but his contribution to “Mind’s Eye” is the most significant of the supporting musicians with his performance leaving most full-time keyboardists in the dust. The rhythm section is no less well credentialled though with talented Dixie Dregs bassist Andy West & legendary Ozzy Osbourne/Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake drummer Tommy Aldridge ensuring that Vinnie had a rock-solid basis from which to showcase his astounding skills.
The purely instrumental tracklisting begins in a rich vein of form with the entire A side being very solid indeed & highlighted by the spectacular “Daydream” which is a genuine shred classic in my eyes (& as usual for me it’s the least popular track on the album – go figure). The way that Vinnie balances out some truly memorable melodies with extreme technique is remarkable & is a very rare talent in this niche marketplace. The B side isn’t quite as strong with the quality level dipping a touch on a few tracks & this is usually the result of melodies that edge towards the cheese line a little or licks & structures that take too much of a neoclassical route as I’ve never found that style of guitar playing to be as attractive as Vinnie’s more mysterious & exotic one. You see, regardless of the technique on display, it’s Vinnie’s ability to create spacey, moody atmospheres that’s the real differentiator from his peers & represents the main attraction for an album like “Mind’s Eye”.
It's interesting that “Mind’s Eye” is almost universally tossed into the neoclassical metal bucket alongside the Yngwies & Jason Beckers because there really isn’t all that much of a classical influence in the song structures & accompaniment here. It’s really just Vinnie’s use of similar lead guitar techniques to those guys (i.e. sweep-picking, strong use of pedal notes, etc.) that provides the link with classical music but that’s not enough for me to want to label “Mind’s Eye” as being inherently neoclassical & it’s perhaps this distinction as much as any that sees my favouring a record like “Mind’s Eye” over other highly regarded releases from the genre like “Rising Force” or “Perpetual Burn”. To my ears this album sits somewhere between your classic heavy metal sound & a more expansive progressive metal one with MacAlpine’s keyboard work being the main link to the progressive side of that equation.
Regardless of what you label it as though, there can be little doubt that “Mind’s Eye” is a magnificent example of instrumental guitar wizardry & it was always going to appeal to someone like myself who not only understands just how difficult it is to pull off a lot of this stuff but also lives for soaring lead guitar hooks. If any of you ever listen to my 1999 solo CD you’ll no doubt hear a strong Vinnie Moore influence in the opening track as I get the feeling that I might have taken a fair amount of inspiration from “Mind’s Eye”. If this is neoclassical metal then it’s the finest example I’ve ever heard & it should be essential listening for any budding young shredder. Just don’t take it too personally when you inevitably discover that you’ll never be half as good as this bloke because none of us will be. He’s nothing less than a total freak of nature.
4/5
Cacophony - "Speed Metal Symphony" (1987)
Another highly influential guitar shred record from my past. I bought this album on CD some time in the very early 1990's after discovering both Marty Friedman & Jason Becker individually & it's fair to say that it left me completely awe-stricken. With their debut collaborative effort, Marty (24 years old) & Jason (astoundingly just 17 years old) absolutely slay in what must surely be one of the heavier guitar virtuoso efforts of the time. Five of the seven tracks are vocal which suits me nicely with singer Peter Marrino's tone being similar to Blackie Lawless from WASP which I don't mind. Musically though, this is very much a take on Yngwie Malmsteen's early records & combines heavy metal, speed metal & progressive metal within a neoclassical context. The neoclassical structures are the predominant feature here though which makes "Speed Metal Symphony" a true neoclassical metal release for a change. I'll be putting through a couple of Hall entries to have heavy metal & speed metal removed as genres as they're used more as tools than as base genres. In fact, it's kinda ironic that there's only one genuine speed metal track here to be honest. "Speed Metal Symphony" may not be as strong a record as either of the boys' solo debuts or any of Yngwie's 1980's efforts but it's still worth a few listens, if only for the dazzling technical displays.
3.5/5
Marty Friedman - "Dragon's Kiss" (1988)
The debut album from the much-loved Cacophony & Megadeth shredder is very much a mixed bag that sees Friedman utilizing progressive metal, speed metal & heavy metal bases for which to support his amazing neoclassical lead guitar stylings. I tend to find the heavier & less classically-inspired moments to be the most effective but it's unfortunately when Marty hints at his future new age direction with some very positive & quite cheesy melodic ideas that I find myself switching off, particularly during the horrid closer "Thunder March" which has proven to be the deciding factor in my chances of "Dragon's Kiss" achieving a respectable rating. If (unlike myself) you can overcome the failings of those couple of tracks then there's a fair bit to enjoy for fans of Jason Becker, Cacophony & Michael Angelo Batio though. In fact, I spent a fair bit of time marveling over Friedman's undeniable chops as a young fella so it's surprised me that this revisit hasn't amounted to a greater result.
3/5
Here's my updated top ten list:
01. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
03. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
09. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
10. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141
I've been listening to Twilight in Olympus to help me get into the Nialoca mood and work on it more. Symphony X is pretty much my go-to band for that.
Here's my updated top ten list after enjoying this week's revisit to Yngwie Malmsteen's "Odyssey" a fair bit more than I was expecting:
01. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
02. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
03. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
04. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
09. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
10. Marty Friedman – “Dragon’s Kiss” (1988)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141
I made a couple adjustments to this. I wasn't all that proud of my last neoclassical challenge list, but I think this one feels more appropriate since it has a couple more popular albums than the last two of the previous edition, and it includes Michael Romeo's solo career debut.
1. Symphony X – Twilight in Olympus
2. Yngwie Malmsteen's Rising Force – Rising Force
3. Marty Friedman – Dragon's Kiss
4. Royal Hunt - Paradox
5. Galneryus – Under the Force of Courage
6. Vinnie Moore – Mind's Eye
7. Iron Mask – Hordes of the Brave
8. Magic Kingdom – Symphony of War
9. Space Odyssey – Embrace the Galaxy
10. Tony MacAlpine – Maximum Security
11. Concerto Moon – Rain Forest
12. Jason Becker – Perpetual Burn
13. Michael Romeo - The Dark Chapter
13. Narnia - Awakening
14. Cacaphony – Speed Metal Symphony
15. Ring of Fire – The Oracle
16. Evil Masquerade – Welcome to the Show
17. Exmortus – Ride Forth
18. Impellitteeri – Stand in Line
19. Time Requiem – Time Requiem
20. Apocrypha – The Forgotten Scroll
21. Warmen – Beyond Abilities
22. Joey Trafolla – Out of the Sun
23. Majestic – Trinity Overture
24. Wolf Hoffman – Classical
25. Patrick Rondat - Amphibia
Solid list, Rex! This might be great for a possible neoclassical metal Guardians clan challenge. What do you think, Ben?
Solid list, Rex! This might be great for a possible neoclassical metal Guardians clan challenge. What do you think, Ben?
Thanks a bunch! Although I don't know if it's the kind of list we need here; too many obscurities. Of course, it IS a pretty niche genre. I mostly made it for fun, but if by some chance it gets uploaded, awesome.
Marty Friedman's debut, Dragon's Kiss, turns 35 tomorrow. Gonna play that.
Given I haven't heard a single release on the list, I'm not sure I'm qualified to judge whether or not it would make a good clan challenge. 
Given I haven't heard a single release on the list, I'm not sure I'm qualified to judge whether or not it would make a good clan challenge.
I took them from the RYM too charts. I also made sure I had the more popular albums by each act not already present in a list challenge. Personally, I prefer Marching Out to Rising Force, but the latter is more historical. Cacophony is a Mart Friedman band and Michael Romeo is from Symphony X. But since it's such a niche genre, we don't need three or four era-based challenges. Although, lists for more specific brands could be cool for Metal Academy. Imagine dissonant death metal, war metal and djent lists.
Of course, if you need me to, I'll get through them all and review them. I've already completed one Guardians list challenge so 'm not suggesting this because need to do another Guardians list to get my fourth clan, but I would like to be the first to complete this list if we do this.
Marty Friedman - Dragon's Kiss (1988)
Fun fact: This is the album that convinced Megadeth to hire him. And it worked out.
Other fun fact: At the day of writing this review, the album turns 35.
So it should be noted that, first and foremost, this is a “riffs” album, one where that's the primary focus, much like Yngwie Malmsteen's debut, Rising Force. Malmsteen made a smart decision to make his songs more radio friendly so that the heavy metal can compliment the classical riffs and vise-versa. And as a result, we have a lot of “riff” albums with no other purpose in life, which is reflected in that music. But with Friedman's debut, the rest of the band is there to compliment his riffs. The drums are heavy and they carry the various vibes of Friedman's riffs perfectly. I mean, just listen to the work done on Anvils. Half of that track is the drum job and not Friedman's finger duties.
I mean, sure, there are some weaker songs that are mostly there for some cool solos, like Dragon's Kiss, or Namida's Kiss which didn't live up to its full potential as a magical folksy midtro, but there are also some interesting unpredictable compositions here. There's a weird mysticism that goes into the intro of Evil Thrill before we're kicked off into a ferocious speed metal tune. Even though the production needs some improvement, you hear what's going on just fine, and lemme tell you: the flawed production gives us enough of that atmos and reverb to make out everything just fine. The drums are loud and hard, the guitar and bass work together well, and the riffs are monstrous.
Unfortunately, he needs some work on softer tracks. The first half of Jewel, for example, is kinda boring. But the proggy magic happens once the tone picks up. And I love soft music as much as metal, being a huge Paul Simon fan. So it's very clear that not every song will be a five-star. Thankfully, the softer intro of the eight-minute prog epic Forbidden City has a good intro that builds up to the neoclassical parts. And I was flat-out blown away by this epic. Thunder March is a weird case. It has both guitars making fine rhythms, but they're not molded well due to the production. Also, the drums aren't quite as heavy as they should be for this marching example of "epica."
I have a little of a personal touch with this album, but I;m not gonna let that alter my rating. Basically, what I want to say is simple: it's obvious that this album's guitar tone and melodies had a major say in the soundtrack to F-Zero GX, and its Guitar Arrange version. Of course, that also makes it easy to compare this album, despite being a different type of metal. This is a fine example of the genre-bending balance that a great metal album needs, and handles that aspect perfectly. Unfortunately, a few songs need some re-evaluations in the compositions department, but there are a few 9's and 10's on this album and I'd easily recommend it for the effort and the historical relevancy.
91/100
Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)
Despite being a total shred-head for most of my youth, it's interesting that I hadn't experienced a full Tony MacAlpine album until this weekend. I've been fully across the bulk of the Shrapnel Records back catalogue since the late 1980's but the Massachusetts-based neoclassical guitar virtuoso & Squawk Records label head has somehow managed to avoid my salivating teenage gaze. I don't think I've been missing out on anything terribly unique though mind as "Maximum Security" sounds a lot like a poor man's Vinnie Moore in my opinion. There's no doubt that his chops are next level (on both guitar & keyboards just quietly) but the song-writing never quite manages to fully engage with me, potentially due to the neoclassicisms as I've never been much of a fan of that style in my metal. It's perhaps no surprise then that the better moments come when Tony parks his classical urges for few minutes in order to indulge further into his progressive side as he does on my personal favourite "Dreamstate". There are a couple of obvious failures in the short Romanticism-inspired keyboard interlude "Etude #4, Opus #10" & flat closer "Porcelain Doll" with the rest of the album being mildly enjoyable without ever presenting the listener with a genuine highlight track. If you still listen to your Jason Becker or Joey Tafolla CDs then you'll no doubt want to own this record as well (Hell, you likely already do) but "Maximum Security" represents more of a passing interest for those of us that moved on from the guitar shred movement several decades ago.
3.5/5
Here;s my updated Top Ten Neoclassical Metal Releases of All Time list with Marty Friedman's "Dragons Kiss" now having dropped out to make way for Tony:
01. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
03. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
05. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
06. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
09. Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)
10. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
Here's my updated Top Ten Neoclassical Metal Releases of All Time list after revisiting Yngwie Malmsteen's "Trial by Fire: Live in Leningrad" live album this week:
01. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
03. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
05. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
06. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
07. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
08. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
09. Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)
10. Yngwie Malmsteen – “The Seventh Sign” (1994)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141
My updated Top Ten Neoclassical Metal Releases of All Time after revisiting this month's The Guardians feature release this week:
01. Yngwie Malmsteen – “Trial By Fire: Live In Leningrad” (1989)
02. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Odyssey” (1988)
03. Vinnie Moore – “Mind’s Eye” (1986)
04. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Marching Out” (1985)
05. Jason Becker – “Perpetual Burn” (1988)
06. Yngwie J. Malmsteen’s Rising Force – “Rising Force” (1984)
07. Yngwie Malmsteen - "Fire & Ice" (1992)
08. Yngwie J. Malmsteen – “Trilogy” (1986)
09. Cacophony – “Speed Metal Symphony” (1987)
10. Tony MacAlpine - "Maximum Security" (1987)
https://metal.academy/lists/single/141