Saturday, June 23, 2012

***** Maximum Security by Tony MacAlpine - Possibly the Best Shred Album Ever


Move over Joe Satriani.  There is someone who has fewer fans than you and is far more gifted.  Maximum Security is one of Tony MacAlpine’s better albums, and it is far better than anything the far more popular Satch has released.  What makes this album so awesome is the control MacAlpine exhibits over his guitar playing.  He isn’t just playing the notes; he is feeling the notes, such that the subtleties of this album that make it so awesome are probably measured better with microns rather than the larger unit of measurement, the millimeter.  This is a achieved because Maximum Security has a lot of bends and whammy bar work that is exceptionally tonally precise.  If you know anything about music, then you know that there can be more than 12 tones before reaching an octave.  For example, one can bend a note a quarter of a note, which is different than a quarter note of time.  What I am referring to his a quarter of a tone, not a quarter note, which refers to the length of time that the note plays for in notation.  The subtleties of this album probably make such that it would be impossible to tab it or use musical notation to describe the song unless one has heard one of the songs on this album first.  Sit back and listen, and stop guess exactly how much MacAlpine bent the note, and just appreciate the tremendous song writing and virtuosity on this album, which is great from start to finish.

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