It’s great to see melodic shred ain’t dead. Chris Bickley definitely proves this. What I like about this record is that there are actual well constructed songs, not just musical excuses to shred over. Furthermore it should be notes this is not a 100 % instrumental album.
Chris uses the talents of Cactus singer Jimmy Kunes who adds his great bluesy feel to the track This Time It’s Gonna Hurt, while Baton Rouge/Norum/Schenker singer Kelly Keeling sings on Crying Shame and Yngwie Malmsteen/Obsession singer Mike Vescera adds his voice to A Step Behind, not forgetting the excellent Outloud singer Chandler Mogel, who sings the melodic metal track Lead You Astray. The vocal tracks are nice interludes between the instrumentals.
Bickley is more of a melodic pentatonic player than an all out shredder. I really like his use of bluesy licks and nice melodic riffs. The production, by Bickley and Vic Steffens, is not flawless but good enough. I like Chris solo style where he plays with the song as apposed to play over it. I however notice there’s slight lag in some places, like as if there was a slight latency in the lead guitar channel. It may be my ears playing tricks on me, but I reacted to this a couple of times. Well, minor thing. A really good and solid record.
01. Race Car Guy
02. This Time It’s Gonna Hurt
03. Fallen
04. Crying Shame
05. All Or Nothing
06. Chemical Love
07. Lead You Astray
08. Tapestry Of Souls
09. Walk In The Park
10. A Step Behind
11. Old No. 9
Info:
Chris Bickley – guitar
Additional Musicians:
Jimmy Kunes – vocals (2)
Kelly Keeling – vocals (4)
Chandler Mogel – vocals (7)
Mike Vescera – vocals (10)
Vick LeCar – guitar (5)
Tom ‘The Suit’ Forst – guitar (5)
John Bruno – guitar (5)
Eric Klaastad – bass (1)
Michael K. Smith – bass (2,6,10)
Scott Spray – bass (3)
Rick Gauthier – bass (4,7)
Dino Fiorenza – bass (5)
Alex Pierce – bass (8)
Chris McCarvill – bass (9)
Dominick Mauro – bass (11)
BJ Zampa – drums (1)
Bobby ‘T’ Torello – drums (2,3)
Paul Pedroncelli – drums (4,7)
Gaetano Nicolosi – drums (5,6,8,9)
Michael Giammattei – drums (10)
Mark Focarlie – keyboards (5,8)
Vic Steffens – organ (3,11), drums (11)
Bill Holloman – horns (9)