The Infidel, The Ten-Guitar Solos

Hello everyone,

Today we are going to do something different. I have a guest blogger discussing his ten, or rather eleven favorite guitar solos. My guest blogger shall be identified to the masses as "the infidel." 

So, enjoy a fresh take on heavy metal.

Marty Sabin 

The Ten – Guitar Solos by The Infidel

If there is one distinguishing element of heavy metal that separates it from all other forms of music, it is the guitar solo.  No, the guitar solo isn’t original to metal, but one cannot separate the idea of heavy metal from a foot-on-the-monitor, head-banging, screaming guitar solo.  In the history of heavy metal, countless classic guitar solos have been recorded and memorized by obsessive black shirt-wearing teenage boys in smoke-filled bedrooms. 

The following is a celebration of all that is perfect about the heavy metal solo, but don’t confuse this with a “top ten”.  Boiling down fifty years of metal history, and the countless classic solos found within, to the ten best is a bigger job than I’m willing to take on.  It might just be impossible.  The following is simply an acknowledgement of the solos that have defined the genre, and is certainly not definitive. 

Want to join the conversation?  Pissed off that your favorite solo didn’t make the list?  Have a better ten?  Let us know, we’re dying to hear from you.  Leave a comment, or forever hold your peace.

11. Slayer

*(That’s right, The Ten goes to 11.)

Slayer, man.  Slayer.  There may be no other band that so encapsulates the spirit of modern metal as these nasty bastards.   With the release of 1986’s Reign in Blood, they managed to make Metallica look like pussies and the hardest death metal underground behemoth look like altar boys.  They played harder, faster, and more evil than any before or since.  Bald-headed, black-souled badass Kerry King and thrasher Jeff Hanneman lumbered about onstage, letting loose blazing solos and thrashing riffs that set fire to the late eighties metal scene.  They released their now-classic God Hates Us All on September 11, 2001.  If that’s not hardcore, I don’t know what is. You can’t pick just one Slayer track to illuminate this band’s genius, but check out Reign in Blood. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgpzLUCY0rU

10. Iron Maiden – Hallowed Be Thy Name

Among the longest and most epic of all the Maiden tracks, Hallowed Be Thy Name is a bombastic mix of slow-burning riffs, Bruce Dickenson’s trademark bellow, and hallmark dueling solos provided by Dave Murray and Adrian Smith (later replaced by the short-lived but awesome Janick Gers).  It’s a wild one, complete with killer harmonics and enough licks to get even the coldest metal fan jamming along on air guitar.  The song became a staple of the Iron Maiden stage show for the better part of their career, sadly dropping off their set list on their most recent US tour, the Maiden England Tour, in favor of more tracks from their Seventh Son of a Seventh Son album. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BFXCgm5270

9. Pantera – Cemetary Gates

Pantera’s longest track, Cemetery Gates, is also one of the most brutal tracks of a long and storied career.  Dimebag comes out swinging on this one, letting loose the demons of pure metal rage with a scathing guitar track replete with harmonic squeals and heavy chugging riffs.  The magic really happens around the five-minute mark, as Dime unleashes a melodic riff, morphs it into a barrage of shredding majesty.  To top it all off, Dime and Anselmo trade off high-pitched screaming vocals and haunting guitar squeals.  Give it a listen and tell me Dimebag’s six-string madness doesn’t give you a chubby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVMvART9kb8

8. Necrophagist – Epitaph

Among Germany’s most celebrated and troubled death metal band is really just one guy – the elusive Muhammed Suiçmez.  Listening to Necrophagist is like playing with that loose tooth in the back of your mouth.  It hurts, there’s blood, there’s a little worry about infection, but you keep jamming your damn tongue into that little gap.  Suiçmez’s technical perfection can’t be denied, whatever he might have lacked in songwriting prowess.  But Necrophagist wasn’t trying to be the Bob Dylan of Death Metal – he came to be the fastest, loudest, and most technically perfect.  They accomplish that in a big way on the title track to 2004’s Epitaph with a scathing and menacing guitar solo that features the leading man’s unmatched pin point perfection.  Necrophagist wasn’t a game-changer for death metal, but he brought a sense of well-practiced perfection of technical diligence that rivals the best in the business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSMkmPuajw0

7. Seventh Wonder – Banish the Wicked

For whatever reason, Sweden’s Seventh Wonder never caught on in the larger metal scene.  It might be that they toe the line between progressive metal and modern rock.  It might be their trouble finding a long-term lead vocalist (though long-time lead man Tommy Karevik seemed to be a keeper until he took up a gig singing for metal legends Kamelot).  The band’s most recent history is marred by a half-assed and ultimately disappointing attempt at a concept album (2007’s lackluster Mercy Falls) and a soured attempt at breaking into mainstream rock (2011’s The Great Escape), but the band’s first three albums are among the best underground treasures to be found in progressive metal.  Banish the Wicked, from the band’s near-perfect 2006 album Waiting in the Wings, shows why.  Lead guitarist Johan Liefvendahl lets loose on this one, unleashing a barrage of arpeggio-flavored sweeps and classically-tinted licks.  You can catch them on tour with Kamelot right now, with lead vocalist Karevik pulling double duty, taking the duties for both bands’ sets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZArre8uMyiQ

6.  Black Sabbath – Paranoid

Never mind that Black Sabbath invented modern heavy metal.  Forget that they introduced the innocent world to the wonders of Satan worship and animal sacrifice.  Even if it weren’t for the fact that Sabbath influenced the heavy metal world in ways that we can’t even begin to understand, Paranoid would stand as one of the greatest heavy metal tracks, with one of the greatest solos ever recorded.  No, it’s not perfect, and it lacks the technicality that punctuates (plagues?) modern progressive-leaning metal.  But fuck it, who needs perfection when you have soul, man?  That’s what Sabbath did best – it wasn’t about the image, the musicianship, or even the message.  Sabbath was about the heart and soul of heavy metal, and that’s why they will always be the black beating heart of the genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWcRMonvWA

5. Metallic – Ride the Lightning

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Metallica – either their 1990 groundbreaking self-titled “Black” album was their first good album, or their first bad one.  I’m with the latter, and if you’re a believer in the former, then fuck you.  Metallica made their mark on metal with being the fastest, the loudest, and the drunkest band on the planet.  1984’s Ride the Lightening showed us a band at its musical peak while the band members hit their personal lows.  Lead vocalist James Hetfield’s self-hate and consuming alcohol habit drove him to write songs about death, misery, and fear.  Newcomer Kirk Hammet was trying to prove himself after taking over for departed guitarist and all-around bag of douche Dave Mustaine.  Cliff Burton was still alive, but not for long.  The result was one of the most ferocious, heavy-hitting opening guitar riffs ever recorded, and a killer, head-smashing solo provided by a young and child-molester-moustache-free Kirk Hammett.  The track showcases a band at the breaking point of personal and professional tension, and the result is a sonic onslaught fraught with blistering riffs at break-neck speed.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdsaB2A1uYc

4. Between the Buried and Me – Selkies: The Endless Obsession

What begins with a sweeping melodic guitar riff devolves into chaotic, chopping riffs set against blast beats and guttural screaming.  Then, the guys slow it down with a calming piano-acoustic guitar refrain.  To top it all off, the five-minute mark offers jazz-tinged guitar solos finished with an epic melodic major solo that absolutely soars.  The mash-up between gnarly death metal riffs and competent (beautiful, even) melodies makes Between the Buried and Me one of the more enigmatic and appealing bands in modern metal.  They’re like a dog on roller skates – you don’t know what you’re looking at, but you’re pretty sure you like it.  Between the Buried and Me are one of the great conundrums; They don’t fit in with the death metal crowd (too smart), they don’t fit in with hardcore (too good), and they don’t fit in with the mainstream (too weird).  But they are insanely talented, and one of the great unsung heroes of modern progressive metal.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHtn8Ep5PlE

3. Dragonforce – Operation Ground and Pound

Hold on, before you get on your elitist high horse and start bitching about Guitar Hero, auto-tune, and whatever else people find to bitch about power metal’s most embattled heroes, hear me out.  Regardless of whether you agree with their sense of self-deprecation and semi-ironic Manowar references, you have to admit that lead guitarist Herman Li can shred with the best of them.  Widely considered the preeminent shred-master of our time, he’s drawn comparisons to Dimebag Darrell and Randy Rhoades.   Despite having the poor taste to start a band with 2010’s Douche-Nozzle of the Year ZP Theart, dueling lead guitarists Li and Sam Totman consistently prove why they deserve the mantel of modern sentinels of heavy metal shredding.  Their sense of melding traditional major-scale modes with Irish and Chinese scales sets Dragonforce apart from the pack, and secures Li and Totman’s place in heavy metal history.  Sure, they’ve been known to knock back a few too many and get sloppy at shows, but what great metal guitarist isn’t allowed an drugged-out breakdown from time to time?  People who hate Dragonfoce are the same type of people who hate Wal-Mart – you can’t be mad at someone for being really good at what they do.  And Dragonforce is the best at what they do, Bub.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywxm6zLEjFY

2. Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train

Ozzy Osbourne, legend that he is, has built his career on the talents of his betters.  As the legend goes, Black Sabbath only let him in the band because he had access to a PA.  So when it came time to hit the road as a solo act in 1979, Ozzy recruited former Quiet Riot riff-master Randy Rhoads.  The rest is history.  Rhoads is, without argument, one of the greatest guitarists to ever live, and among the most influential craftsmen in metal.  He had a sense of rhythm and swagger unmatched by his contemporaries, or in our modern metal world.  He was a musician’s guitarist, flawlessly switching between rhythm and lead riffs.  He pioneers tapping techniques later stolen by every half-decent metal guitarist since.  He provided a play-book for how to write and perform metal.  Rhoades had it all – the talent, the attitude, the look, and the legend.  Long story short, every single metal guitarist owes their life to Rhoads.   Oh, and by the way, he did all this with an insanely basic setup of equipment – a few good guitars, some distortion, a little chorus, a flanger, and an EQ.  After a short three years, Rhoads was killed in an insane accident involving a rickety old airplane and a botched fly-by of Ozzy’s tour bus.  Shocking and terrible as it was, it was an ironically fitting end to a storied career that was just getting started.  The man lived by metal, and he died by metal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoWFN0uPDKI

1.       Pink Floyd – The Wall

I’m breaking some rules here, but I don’t care.  Pink Floyd is not a metal band, nor is The Wall necessarily fair to compare, as a complete album, against individual tracks.  But check this out – the band’s epic 2-disc LP featured four of the best solos of all time (Comfortably Numb, Mother, Hey You, Another Brick in the Wall pt. II.)  The record features one of the most recognizable opus riffs ever recorded.  Lead guitarist David Gilmour redefined what a rock and roll bands can be my mixing the band’s trademark jazz-rock fusion sound with major blues scales and created timeless solos that oozed emotion.  Pink Floyd’s The Wall, taken as one continuous track, shows the band at their creative and musical peak.  Tensions were building between the two virtuoso front-men, Gilmoure and Roger Waters, but they hadn’t yet hit the wall (heh).  Fresh on their memory was former lead singer and primary songwriter Syd Barrett’s downward spiral into insanity.  The album’s concept – the tale of a hedonistic young rock and roll singer who drowns his torturous past in alcohol, sex, and drugs – is about as metal as flying V guitars, facial hair, and mosh pits.

And yep, here’s the full movie.  Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jTmMU6sMgM

The Infidel