Album: Speed Metal Symphony
Genre: Heavy Metal
Release: June (?) 1987
Length: 45 minutes
Tracks: 7
Country of Origin: United States
Length: 45 minutes
Tracks: 7
Country of Origin: United States
I'm going to be reviewing both of Cacophony's albums, Speed Metal Symphony and Go Off! because I feel for any musician, these albums should very highly be praised by musicianship. The shred work on this one especially is amazing. So on that note, I'm going to make my point clear that I'm not really going to focus on much else here aside from the guitar work. The drums are alright, but that's not what this review is here for. The bass is almost not really there because the guitar's the majority of what you want to focus on here. And lastly, I'm not going to focus on Peter Marrino's vocals at all, because they aren't very memorable. This album should be noted for its intense guitar work, as the names of the most important assets to Cacophony are in the band's header, Marty Friedman and Jason Becker.
I'd assume most metal fans would recognize the name Marty Friedman (if you were to ever read liner notes) as the lead guitarist from Megadeth who participated in all releases from 1990's 'Rust in Peace,' to 1999's 'Risk.' This album would be recorded years before his 9-year stint with Megadeth. However, not too many people recognize the name Jason Becker, as he has long been dormant from the music scene making any new material since 1995's 'Perspective,' an album which astoundingly he recorded after being struck with ALS, a disease that would nearly completely paralyze him.
Anyway, onto the album. Like I said, my only focus here is on the work supplied by Marty Friedman and Jason Becker. The shredding on here is simply amazing and I highly suggest that every guitarist should listen to this album multiple times throughout their life. I'm not kidding, if you play guitar, go out and get yourself a copy of this album right now. There are two instrumentals on this album, 'Concerto' and 'Speed Metal Symphony' but as far as I'm concerned this entire album could just be instrumental and still be nothing less than incredible. As I said, Peter Marrino's vocal work isn't really all that memorable, I'm just here for the guitars. 'Concerto' is more than likely my favorite off the album because the seemingly 'dueling' guitar work throughout it is absolutely astounding. It's a four minute, thirty-seven second instrumental piece that nearly takes my breath away every time I listen to it. And that's not to say that I have anything against other tracks on this album, as I don't. In fact, I'm listening to the whole album as I'm posting and I just got done finishing 'Burn the Ground,' which is track #5 and the guitar solos throughout that entire song could possibly bring the dead back to life. The entire album is done in a 1980s heavy metal style, as it should be, yet it contains some neo-classical influence, as portrayed in the third track, 'The Ninja', which is most likely my second favorite off of the album. The opening clean guitar portion is beautiful, and it never ceases to be amazing throughout the rest of the song. The final track, 'Speed Metal Symphony' is an amazing closer to an already amazing album. 30 seconds short of being a 10 minute instrumental, yet every second has some insane work put into it.
This album has really opened my eyes personally as a guitarist into much greater things, and I honestly can not say a bad thing about this album. Every second is amazing, yet I just wish that Cacophony's stint wasn't so short. If Jason Becker would ever recover (which sadly most likely is near impossible), him and Marty Friedman should definitely look into another amazing creation like this, because this was absolutely astounding.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Here's 'Concerto,' my overall favorite piece from the album:
I'd assume most metal fans would recognize the name Marty Friedman (if you were to ever read liner notes) as the lead guitarist from Megadeth who participated in all releases from 1990's 'Rust in Peace,' to 1999's 'Risk.' This album would be recorded years before his 9-year stint with Megadeth. However, not too many people recognize the name Jason Becker, as he has long been dormant from the music scene making any new material since 1995's 'Perspective,' an album which astoundingly he recorded after being struck with ALS, a disease that would nearly completely paralyze him.
Anyway, onto the album. Like I said, my only focus here is on the work supplied by Marty Friedman and Jason Becker. The shredding on here is simply amazing and I highly suggest that every guitarist should listen to this album multiple times throughout their life. I'm not kidding, if you play guitar, go out and get yourself a copy of this album right now. There are two instrumentals on this album, 'Concerto' and 'Speed Metal Symphony' but as far as I'm concerned this entire album could just be instrumental and still be nothing less than incredible. As I said, Peter Marrino's vocal work isn't really all that memorable, I'm just here for the guitars. 'Concerto' is more than likely my favorite off the album because the seemingly 'dueling' guitar work throughout it is absolutely astounding. It's a four minute, thirty-seven second instrumental piece that nearly takes my breath away every time I listen to it. And that's not to say that I have anything against other tracks on this album, as I don't. In fact, I'm listening to the whole album as I'm posting and I just got done finishing 'Burn the Ground,' which is track #5 and the guitar solos throughout that entire song could possibly bring the dead back to life. The entire album is done in a 1980s heavy metal style, as it should be, yet it contains some neo-classical influence, as portrayed in the third track, 'The Ninja', which is most likely my second favorite off of the album. The opening clean guitar portion is beautiful, and it never ceases to be amazing throughout the rest of the song. The final track, 'Speed Metal Symphony' is an amazing closer to an already amazing album. 30 seconds short of being a 10 minute instrumental, yet every second has some insane work put into it.
This album has really opened my eyes personally as a guitarist into much greater things, and I honestly can not say a bad thing about this album. Every second is amazing, yet I just wish that Cacophony's stint wasn't so short. If Jason Becker would ever recover (which sadly most likely is near impossible), him and Marty Friedman should definitely look into another amazing creation like this, because this was absolutely astounding.
Overall Rating: 5/5
Here's 'Concerto,' my overall favorite piece from the album:
Review by Paradox
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