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The title of Joe Stump’s new instrumental album makes it pretty clear what the listener should expect: Metal meets Classical music, as interpreted mainly by the guitar. One is expected to demonstrate a certain level of technical proficiency to be able to pull this off and Mr Stump has truckloads of technical proficiency.
Stump’s guitar sound doesn’t change much throughout the album – an exception being some brief but excellent acoustic guitar solos. ‘In The Master’s House’ – possibly the album’s highlight – also has Stump trying out different ideas. This track’s intro seems inspired by Beethoven’s sonatas but Joe Stump then infuses some top-notch Blues and Neoclassical guitar solos to it.
What else do we have? ‘The Black Knight’s Castle’ is strongly reminiscent of the most furious stuff recorded by Ritchie Blackmore. Bliss. ‘Enter The Coven’ and ‘Man Your Battlestations’ are great, although not excellent. ‘White Knuckle Mayhem’, on the other hand, is manic and exciting boasting some excellent guitar melodies.
Anyone who knows me will be aware that I’m a sucker for this type of music and I’m sure there are others like me who’ll devour “Revenge…”. Sometimes the songwriting seemed to suffer at the expense of Stump’s (excellent) playing. And the percussion sounds sound a bit thin. But those are minor gripes when the album is taken as a whole.
Joe Stump is one of the few remaining exponents of the Neoclassical guitar genre – this makes “Revenge of the Shredlord” all the more valid. Check it out! | ||||||||||||||||||
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