CHROMATICITY

This is one of the best albums of the guitar chameleon called TONY MACALPINE!This man started as a neoclassical shredder guitarist from the SHRAPNEL RECORDS armada,led by the genius MIKE VARNEY,the man who discovered so many brilliant guitar players in the middle of the '80's.Let's name a few...GREG HOWE,JASON BECKER,MARTY FRIEDMAN,PAUL GILBERT,MICHAEL LEE FIRKINS,VINNIE MOORE,RITCHIE KOTZEN among others.And Mr Macalpine exploded literally with EDGE OF INSANITY many years ago!Time passed by and this extremelly talented guitar player and pianist too,tried other musical adventures with PLANET X...CAB...or collaborations with VITALIJ KUPRIJ...JOEY TAFOLLA...STEVE VAI...He is absolutelly able to play no matter what musical style...from furious neoclassical to pure shred,from blues to fusion and high tech fusion-PLANET X is a great example!So,after this long,maybee too long introduction,let's say a few words about this sensational CHROMATICITY!A pure musical jewel,where Tony gets a serious hand from the ace genius drumer STEVE SMITH and the spectacular BARRY SPARKS from COSMOSQUAD and YNGWIE MALMSTEEN on bass!This album is very diverse,it's more in the vein of PLANET X,so more fusion oriantated than the previous ones!It's very well composed,with superbe keyboards interventions and the usual Chopin piano solo- Macalpine's favourite piano author,composer present on each album!DIGITALIS DESTRUCTI,ISIS and CITY BENEATH THE SEA are typically fusion songs,but AVENGER is a pure neoclassical furious track with all the standard ingredients!The playing of Macalpine is so diverse,that's why I can say that this album is his most mature and elaborated solo album so far!!! 4 ,5 STARS for a complete and complex album!

This album was my first contact with the solo output of Tony MacAlpine and remains my favourite or one of the most favourite ones. My greatest attraction was the fusion and progressive feeling of the record, especially in its first half where the trio pulls it off. Irregular rhythms, virtuoso bass, well thought-out guitar solos and excellent piano/organ arrangements or even virtuoso piano solos are main ingredients. No sung vocals help focus on the instrumental performance. You will notice some similarities to CAB or Planet X but with more focus on guitar on tracks like "Chromaticity" and "Digitalis Destructi" with its crazy chords. "City beneath the sea" may be the most melodic number on the record.

Diverse groups of progressive rock/progressive metal/heavy metal and guitar virtuoso will love this record.