Y2R School of Metal/HxC/Melodeth/Shred/Solo Guitarist

[young2rice]

Hey guys this will be a thread where i'll hope to share with you some of the music I enjoy and hopefully you guys can take a gander so that you could maybe find something you like that you didn't know existed.

I'll start with the basics, for those of you who don't know I play lead guitar in a metal band so that music is what i'm probably the most versed in when it comes to knowledge and what I listen to. So here let me just shutup and start posting the vids.


First Up since they have a new album just out "War Is The Answer"

Five Finger Death Punch - "The Way Of The Fist"
Genre: Heavy Metal
There's one thing I added recently to my "bucket list" if you will, and that is that if I ever get into a fight for some reason...I pray that this song is somehow playing in the background as I cave in some skulls. 5FDP bring some brutality and melodic choruses to the metal genre. While they are essentially radio rock, but rather radio 'metal' they are still an enjoyable band. 5FDP comes out of L.A. and only just started making music in 2005. They just released their second album on the 22nd of September, and I haven't given it a good enough listen yet so I'm going off of their debut album. This is about as accessible as it gets.



Between The Buried And Me - "Selkies"
Genre: Progressive Metal / Post Hardcore
This band is a progressive metal band that has been making music since about 2000. This song Selikies is regarded as one of the better songs from the band. BTBAM features progressive songs (lots of different riffs, odd time signatures, and generally longer run-time for the songs). My favorite part about BTBAM is their contrast, and guitar prowess. You can go from one hard mosh-pitting breakdown to a polka dance, and around the 4 minute mark they show you how they can go from one area to another in terms of sound.



Machine Head - "Halo"
Genre: Heavy Metal / Thrash
Now for some good old fashion heavy metal. This is a west coast band named Machine Head that has been around since about 1992. They are known for their energetic fist pumping live shows and here's a nice live video of their song Halo.



ANJ - "Mikhail Gorbachov"
Genre: Pop Rock/Heavy Metal
This...is for the LULZZZZZZZZZZ. It is quite possibly the best music video ever made in the history of mankind. This is a russian metalband named ANJ and the song is called, Mikhail Gorbachov after the historical leader from their "With Honor To Live" album. It features zombies, boobs, raining coke, laser eyes, blood, conan the barbarian's stuntman, amazing. I put this up here just for the video, not so much the music as I don't regularly listen to this band, but to each his own.



Paul Gilbert - "Curse Of Castle Dragon"
Genre: Shred
This falls under the instrumental guitar category with Paul Gilbert. Gilbert is probably also known as a guitarist for the band Racer X. He's had many solo albums since and is one of the more skillful and emotional "shredders" out there.



Andy McKee - "Rylynn"
Genre: New Age / Solo Acoustic
Here we have an acoustic virtuoso and one of his songs off his album. It starts of slowly and then really picks up, he is very melodic and does a great job. His highly skilled guitar playing is only matched by his beautiful tone, songwriting, and awesome rockin' beard. Plus I love that he just looks like "a dude" and is awesome at guitar.



Quo Vadis - "Mute Requiem"
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
One of my favorite genres, melodic death metal, introduced me to Quo Vadis. QV is surprisingly though not from Sweden or any area in Europe, but rather Canada. Our brothers from the north bring us these technical riffs mixed with gruff vocals all blending together in a delicious mixture of brutality, musicality, and technicality. There drummer is to die for...hell their all great musicians.




Alright that's it for the first batch. I'll be keeping this updated almost daily with different videos.

[young2rice]

Arch Enemy - "Ravenous"
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
My personal favorite band. Arch Enemy is a female-fronted melodic death metal band. Say what you will but I find Angela Gossow, the singer, to be an awesome front-women, and her aggression really plays out on the stage. Here's a good live video of AE playing their song Ravenous off of their Wages of Sin album (my fav. album of theres). They are a mix of aggressive vocals, technical metal guitar riffs, mixed with melodic solo sections. The Amott brothers (Michael/Christopher) are two of the best dual guitarists currently playing. ... can you imagine what she sounds like if she orgasms?



Lacuna Coil - "Fragments Of Faith"
Genre: Heavy Metal
In keeping with the female fronted band train of thought I bring Lacuna Coil. While recently they have been becoming more poppy sounding they are still a decent band. Lacuna Coil is fronted by Christina Scabbia, a hot little piece that co-sings with a man. Together they offer an interesting juxtaposition as they switch parts on and off or harmonize with each other. The guitar parts or more simple and groove-oriented then harder metal.



Necrophagist - "Ignominious & Pale"
Genre: Death Metal
Here is some plain old death metal. Necrophagist is one of the few true death metal bands that I can listen to because of their great guitar riffs from Muhammed. He rips it, especially in other songs like "Fermented Offal Discharge". This song however is off their second album, Epitaph that was released last year. They sound great live.



All That Remains - "Six"
Genre: Metalcore / Hardcore
All That Remains is a band from around here that I love. They've hit it big especially when one of their songs was included in guitar hero bringing them to a whole new audience. There vocalist originally struggled live but has gotten a lot better, hope to check these guys out here in November. Anyway ATR features techical fast guitar riffs and metalcore vocals that go from grit to soft. But actually my favorite part of this song is the bridge, where it goes un-distorted and builds up to a nice melodic orgasm to the ears.



Slayer - "Raining Blood"
Genre: Thrash Metal
Slayer has been around since the early days of the thrash movement along with bands like Metallica/Megadeth/Testament. Here is possibly their most famous song, Raining Blood. This song features higher pitched aggressive vocals with some fast guitar riffs. Slayer also features a lot of 'improv' solos from guitarist Kerry King who isn't a musical theory master. Eitherway they bring an aggressive show that gets the crowd going while keeping an almost tribal beat. I personally think playing this song is tons of fun, and is a good idea of what to expect from the band.



Testament - "Into The Pit"
Genre: Thrash Metal
For those of you that don't know. Numerous riffs by Testament have pretty much been ripped off by today's popular metalcore bands like Lamb Of God/Killswitch Engage/Avenged Sevenfold, etc, etc. Testament was originally a hard-hitting thrash outfit out of San Francisco in 1985. Testament was among the thrash scene but for some reason never got quite as big as Metallica/Megadeth/Slayer, but were still a great thrash band. Guitarist Alex Sklonick is also quite possibly one of the most forgotten and looked over guitarists of the genre as more house-hold common names like Kirk Hammett, Dave Mustaine, and Kerry King seem to take presidency despite not necessarily being as talented.

[young2rice]

Trivium - "Shogun"
Genre: Metalcore
Trivium is a band based out of Orlando FL and have been around for a few years. They originally started out as a hardcore-esque band but have slowly augmented their vocals and sound over time. They are known as Metallica nut-huggers but in my book that's okay, you can definately hear the influence though in their music. This is the title track of their newest album Shogun. Unfortunately not many good sound-quality live videos so it's just the audio.


Ten Masked Men - "Eye Of The Tiger Cover"
Genre: Cover Metal?
This is a metal band that likes to cover pop songs and turn them into metal songs. Need I say more? This is one of the better ones imo with Survivor's "Eye Of The Tiger" song. They have some decent arangements, and obviously aren't meant to be taken too seriously.


Buckethead - "White Wash
Genre: Shred / Avant Garde
Buckethead was relatively unknown until he had some solid success because of the guitar hero games. He managed to get his song Jordan on there and get mainstream attention. Buckethead is a very avant garde style player and not your typical "play as fast as possible shredder" which is obvious is this clip. This is a slow-building ballad that picks up near the end and showcases his musicality more than his technical prowess. He wears the mask supposedly because of his shyness, etc. Eitherway it's a 'gimmick' that has worked, as he wears the KFC bucket and mask all the time. He also spent a lot of time on numerous other bands playing guitar, his real name is Brian Carroll. He is also pretty consistent with putting out records as he has released 32 albums since 1992 !!


Parkway Drive - "Carrion"
Genre: Metalcore / Hardcore
Parkway Drive is a popular band out of Australia. They worked hard to get there band where they are with their constant touring and it wasn't until they released Horizons in America did it come out on #6 on the charts. Parkway Drive are known, as is most hardcore, for their brutal breakdowns and gritty vocals. They also bring a great sense of melody to their songs.


Carlos Vamos - "Little Wing Tapped" Cover
Genre: Solo Guitarist
Carlos Vamos is a solo guitarist that is known for his great melody and acoustic guitar playing. He has numerous guests on his CD's but this one is off of his Best of Carlos Vamos CD. It is Jimi Hendrix Little Wing but done 'tapped' on an acoustic guitar.