Review Summary: Macalpine tightens his songwriting, approaching a more comprehensive and effective progressive/shred metal package.
Arguably the most interesting of the remaining neo-classical shredders of the 80s Shrapnel records wave, Tony Macalpine has also managed to deliver consistently solid releases since the late 90s, thanks to his adoption of numerous fusion tricks along the way. Following the introduction of seven and eight string guitars on his 2011 self-titled album, Macalpine has successfully conjured up a more organized and effective progressive metal sound for 2015's
Concrete Gardens, and has since sharpened it up even more for
Death of Roses.
The biggest ascent of Concrete Gardens was its thrilling mix of adventurous leads with more conventional riffs and songwriting, a trend that is further explored here. The riffs are comparable to those of
Dream Theater, but the progressions are generally more restrained and better focused, with song lengths under 5 minutes for the most part reflecting an understanding of his personal limits. The core result of this is massively more memorable tracks, with the standout moments
truly standing out, rather than being swamped in extra weight. A perfect example is second track,
Electric Illusionist, which is fairly dense with complex riffs and soaring leads, but thanks to the reduced song length and more to-the-point writing, the mid course guitar solo really takes off and provides a central turning point, rather than just feeling like another transition, as some of them felt on prior albums.
Another strength which Death of Roses capitalizes on at opportune times is Macalpine's talent for varied tempos and moods with his core sound of shred metal. The title track serves a brilliant purpose as the slower, catchier, and slightly more mysterious break from the opening onslaught of fairly fast tracks, and the following
Axiomatic Jewels manages to find a balance between the speed of the opening few tracks with a generally more restrained and subdued feeling, letting the leads take the, uh, lead, whilst backing off the heavy rhythm guitars. Closer
Shundor Prithbi manages to more or less sum up the whole experience, with a mix of breezier lead sections with some of the most thunderous metallic moments of the entire album.
With Death of Roses, Macalpline has managed to cross the line between shred rock and genuinely great instrumental metal music that so many contemporaries have struggled with over the years. Jeff Loomis came fairly close with Plains of Oblivion, back in 2012, and Concrete Gardens barely missed the mark, but here there is a degree of focus that can make this shred legend appeal to the progressive metal listener more fully.
