In these days of power metal, super fast riffs, and an upswing in the amounts of solos making it into songs, whatever happened to the virtuoso players of the old school? You know, those guys who play just to play and do it incredibly well. There are so many great axe wielders these days but few very of them release solo material displaying just how well they’ve honed their craft of ripping out sweeping solos or dizzying arpeggios. Is this an art that died in the 80s only to be slightly revived in the years after?
Enter Locrian Mist. It’s a one man band comprised of the skillful John Taylor, his guitar, and a drum machine. The band is inspired by old school power metal acts and other virtuoso players and it pays homage to the forgotten art of fretboard shredding quite well. John started playing almost 10 years ago and it seems like he’s done nothing but practicing exorbitantly ever since then. They say it takes 10 years to fully master something and if we’re judging adept guitar playing, I’d definitely say John’s mastered his métier. In those ten years, he’s managed to play in two different bands: Azeron and ENVY. John recently relocated from North Carolina back to Colorado and has actually rejoined ENVY. From what I’ve heard from ENVY, their material is going to be even more excellent with John’s re-entry into the band. I’ll be contacting them very soon on their upcoming material. Back to Locrian Mist. I’ve really only got one word to describe John’s style of shredding: virtuoso.
The self-titled EP comprises blistering tracks. The first three tracks are blazing exhibitions of sheer speed and skill. Locrian Mist offers us death metal heads a bit of change of scenery with the last track, Endless Void. The EP starts off with Harmony, a mid-paced track by John’s standards. The whole track is awash in high paced sweeps and mechanical drums although they’re much offset as they are not the focus of the music. Wholly, Harmony is really a rollercoaster of fret mastery. Each verse is a turbulent sweep across the frets with successive bridges gathering more complexity and speed. The song closes out with a beautiful accelerando to a choral extro. If this doesn’t catch your ear, I’m very sorry. Track number two is a rather speedy rendition of Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov. It’s a favorite among adept players for its speed and tonal complexity. Of the different versions of this track that I’ve heard from players around the world, John’s has to be one of my favorites. Up next is the aptly titled Trinity. After the somber synth intro, the track breaks in with a smoking set of sweeps backed by equally fast drum work. This is another display of John’s voracious practicing as he basically shreds apart his guitar neck. Each bridging chorus is a giant sweeping arpeggio in sharp tonal contrast to the verse before it. This beautiful shredding/sweeping combo continues until about 3:40 in and in comes a breakdown. Now, this isn’t your typical “chugga-chugga” hardcore minute-in-length breakdown but it’s just a trick preparing you for some serious shredding. The remaining minute after the segue is just beautiful, that’s all I can really say to describe it.
Enter track four, Endless Void, the ominous epic death metal song of the EP. Rolling in at a whopping 8:59, it’s a definitive helluva song. Music aside, this is the only track I have any real issues with and honestly, it’s not that big of a complaint. What is it you ask? The quality of the vocal track. While the vocals are a death growl a la Opeth, the actual recording quality is definitely not there compared to the guitar or drum tracks. With that aside, the track is massive in sound. If I was to listen to this about 8 years ago, I’d probably mistake it for an early production track from My Arms, Your Hearse from Opeth. Locrian Mist definitely have serious talent in the songwriting department and this is easily displayed on this epic track. The bridges in the song are so smooth and flowing while the verses are deep and moving. I’ve found it very easy to get lost in this lengthy track due to its epic nature. The guitar tracks are classic and so well executed that I forget I’m listening to a demo EP of a one-man band. The segue and verses later in the track are just aurally huge. I’m finding it difficult to really express just how good of a track this is. It’s got all the right progressive elements, the right death elements, and a great mix of soloing that build a proverbial ‘perfect’ track.
Now, about the physical album itself I had some problems. On the back cover, I could barely make out the titles of the songs at first until I memorized them. This could be due to the printer running low on ink or something similar but the words were very hard to make out on the light blue background. I will recognize that this could be just limited to my copy but I’m unsure. Secondly, I had some problems getting the CD to into my slot-loading CD player in my car. The player sort of choked on the thick CD label on the disc. Not a big issue but it was enough to make me curse my CD player. The overall packaging for the EP is okay for self-produced, it’s heads and shoulders better than some stuff I’ve received in the past. This is something I won’t blame on John since he’s just an artist trying to get his music out there and not a professional designer with loads of special printing equipment.
Locrian Mist’s demo EP hits the ground running at full tilt. With ten years of seemingly endless practice behind the band, there’s only one way to go: up. John’s style of playing is something of a novelty today as there aren’t a proliferation of virtuosic players around these days. From start to end, the entire EP is a showcase of sweeps, arpeggios, and serious shredding. Standout tracks are Endless Void and Trinity. Both display John’s wealth of talent in playing and in production. Now that Locrian Mist have relocated to Denver, Colorado and have reunited with ENVY, I expect a deluge of quality material from both bands in the coming months. I’m sure that if any bands are in need of a session guitarist or a live player, John is one they should definitely consider.
Head over to Locrian Mist’s MySpace to listen to a few tracks and while you’re there, make sure you pick up a copy of the EP.
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