Listening to your solo, I think it was great: it wasn't flashy but it had that great melody holding it together and it was a fresh variety from many of those more impressive solos in the track.

Ryan Grima's solo was great too, so was Jose Salvador's.

Yoo anyone here heard of Mike Orlando he's amazing heard about him through a Mike Portnoy forum cause there starting a project soon check him out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS_wdB0SS14

I dunno, I can't get into that frantic playing style. Reminds me of David Shankle.

I'm surprised to see that there hasn't been any discussion about Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders, Reflux) in this forum:





It's hard for me to pinpoint which song has his best performance because they are pretty much all crazy.

Haven't gotten into their music, but the little I've heard of Abasi has been very promising indeed.

Yeah, his music is definitely difficult to get into. Especially his Animals as Leaders stuff since it is so experimental.

I like to think I enjoy some of his playing. I definately like that he's experimenting a lot with different approaches to mixing things up, like his polyrhythm tapping (or is it just syncopated tapping? You hear it in the less intense parts of "CAFO") or when he just strums an arpeggio and taps each note an octave higher (tried it out somewhat, but with my guitar/rig it didn't really sound that good). One thing I've noticed, though, is that it doesn't always seem like he's able to do what he does in a live setting, instructional setting or whatever (he sits and plays . I feel it sometimes sounds sloppy. Then again, he certainly plays awesome on the album so it might just be a couple of bad days.

I think my favourite song of his would be "Tempting Time". I definately love the lick he does around 40 seconds out in the song.

Conrad is such a beast.

Anyone here familiar with Revocation and David Davidson's playing? Pretty skilled guy(both rhythm and lead)...I think he could make the list somewhere on down the line..

There wasn't really anything there I felt was special but no doubt it was some solid playing. The lead work reminded me of Dragonforce but better.

EDIT:
I mean truly "down the line"(later on in the list)...not saying he belongs in the same league as Vai or Loomis. The main thing I was trying to point out was his knack for crazy riffs and how tight his playing is with the tempo changes. Also note the groovy syncopated solo in the middle of a thrash tune...which I find very creative and more special than crazy alternate picking the whole time(what most people seem to think skill is all about in metal) Leadwise, those are actually some more conservative lead chops on his part(he gets a lot faster and more intricate)..

I wanted to show videos that show different sides of his metal playing and had quality video/audioso people could get a better feel for what he's going for. As far as influences on his lead playing it's actually Dimebag, Friedman and jazz players(hence the polyrhythms and tempo changes). He's a very schooled musician. He majored in jazz theory at Berklee and is now a teacher at an arts high school

I find his lead playing way too bluesy and quircky to be mentioned in the same sentence as DF, but some of the melodic parts I could see, sure.

btw...sorry about our stupid spats in the past dude, we cool?

Alex Skolnik needs to be on this list somewhere. He's a very skilled player and a very accurate improviser(intonation/alternate picking etc) not only in metal but in jazz as well. Great chops in this tune...



Hell of an improviser as well. Watch this starting at 6:18...

I definitely agree about Alex. I was listening to Testament's most recent album a few weeks back and thought to put him on the list but it slipped my mind.

I've always thought he was a really good player. Have you heard his jazz stuff or his liver performances with Rodrigo E Gabriela? Well rounded guy.
And I'm currently listening to Testament's latest release. I'm thoroughly impressed with everything from the rhythm section and riffs to the lead work and vocals. Really good songwriting and performances all around. There isn't a disappointing track on the whole album imo and I'm picky about thrash and metal in general.

That Skolnick video was awesome. Didn't know it existed, but based on that video the cover seems like it's pretty damn cool.