Sanctuary of Nevermore

There are Black Sabbath fans who only like the albums with Ozzy, and others who only like the albums with Dio, and others who like the albums regardless of who’s singing. I’m included in this third group.

Some albums with Ozzy are certainly great. Others, not so much (Never Say Die and Technical Ecstasy come to mind). I like all albums with Dio. I like the one album with Ian Gillan, some songs on the one with Glenn Hughes, and most of the albums with Tony Martin. By far, my top favorite with him is Tyr, followed by Headless Cross. These two albums have the late Cozy Powell on drums. Cozy was a great drummer, and his work with Sabbath was up to par with his work in other bands (such as early Rainbow).

Speaking of Tyr specifically, I like all of the songs in that album, first thru last track. Yes, it sounds different the the band’s early work with Ozzy, but so what, since the same can be said of the afore mentioned Never Say Die and Technical Ecstasy. These albums with Tony Martin have great songs, great drumming, great vocals.

The Cross Purposes album is the next one on my list. I like the production on the album, the drummer also kicks butt (Bobby Rondinelli), and it has Geezer Butler on it!

The weakest album with Martin was Forbidden. There are still some good songs there, but overall, it’s not on the same level with the others. One interesting thing about this album for me, though: I wrote a song a few years ago called Far Away (you can read all about it here), and it includes a melody and time signature that somehow was stuck in my mind. Also some words. I really couldn’t put a finger on why exactly those things were stuck in my mind. It’s at the 2’11" mark on that song. I hadn’t listened to Sabbath’s Forbidden album for at least 18 years. Then, when I listened to it a few months ago, I figured out what was stuck in my mind: the intro and first words to the song Can’t Get Close Enough!

Another interesting fact: one of my bands from my teenage years had been renamed Anno Mundi, because we were such fans of Tyr album, and more specifically the opening track in that album, Anno Mundi.

Enough talking… off to the list!!

#10: Can’t Get Close Enough

Forbidden is the weakest album out of the Tony Martin's era with Sabbath. However, there are a couple of songs there I enjoy. For some reason, Can't Get Close Enough got stuck to my mind.

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#9: Odin’s Court / Valhalla

These two songs go together perfectly. Tony's vocals are perfect here.

#8: The Sabbath Stones

This album has so many great songs! I do not care if it doesn't have either Dio or Ozzy on it, this album is great and this is one of the best songs in it!

#7: Nightwing

Great mood, great vocals, great guitar leads and riffs, solid drumming.

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#6: When Death Calls

Tony Martin is such un underrated singer. Despite his great singing on tracks like this one, many "fans" moan that "this isn’t Ozzy…"… Whatever, dude.

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#5: Born to Lose

For some reason this song reminds me of the Born Again album.

#4: The Shining

Good song off the Tony Martin era.

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#3: Cross of Thorns

I really like this song. Lyrics, vocals, guitars, mood, the dynamics… everything does it for me. I’ve listened to it a gazillion times. I’ve even done a vocal cover a few years ago, but not good enough to post it online. I may actually do a complete cover one day.

#2: Headless Cross

The band came back with Ozzy and the rightful name of Black Sabbath. They also did it with Dio under the name of Heaven and Hell. I think they should also come back under the name of "Headless Cross". It’s sad that it wouldn’t feature the mighty Cozy Powell… but, the dude with the mustache, Mr. Iommy, and Tony Martin are still around, as well as Geezer, so good music can still flow out of these fellows.

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#1: Anno Mundi

This is probably one of the songs I’ve listened to the most in my life. Yes, I really like it that much. Again, excellent drums played by the late Cozy Powell, solid riffs written and played by Mr. Iommy, and great vocals sung by Tony Martin. I like it so much that it ended up being the name of one of my bands in my teenage years.

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I hardly ever put music to play in shuffle mode. I usually enjoy picking a specific album and let it play in its entirety. Sometimes I listen to an album by Slayer, then Nevermore, then Madredeus (?). Then, I listen to Black Sabbath, then Rush, then Vartina (?!). Once in a while, people around me ask "what the heck is that you’re listening to?".

Many people think I only listen to Heavy Metal, but that’s totally not true. There’s music I absolutely do NOT listen to, but I do enjoy finding out about music from different parts of the world that sound very different from the stuff I normally listen to.

That’s what this list is all about...

#10: Rondellus

Reading the book "How to Call Attention to Your Music", by Derek Sivers, I found out about this music group. Here’s how they caught my attention:

I just had to check them out!

#9: Iron Horse (Metallica)

I do not like Country Music, but I do like Bluegrass. I like the pace, I like the banjo, and the harmonized vocals. I like Metallica (it’s always been one of my favorite bands). Then you put the two together. That’s what Iron Horse did. Sounds like fun!

#8: Twelve Girls Band

What are those instruments?! They look funny and ancient, but this group make it sound interesting in their music. It’s different, it requires skill… I dig it.

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#7: Beatallica

#6: Baby Metal

After I’ve recorded a rough version of the song played on the acoustic guitar, I kept listening to it while driving around, and vocal melodies started shaping up in my mind. As some parts stuck to my brain, I recorded it on Evernote so I wouldn’t forget (and also so I could hear it to see if it was working). The recording shows the parts I had lyrics for, and also the parts where I didn’t have the words yet, but had a general idea as to what the melody lines should be (lots of mumbling there).

Next, I did a slightly better recording, done when I had more solid ideas for lyrics and vocals (but still, some mumbling here and there while I looked for the words I wanted)...

Do you even realize how special you are?

There are those moments when you have to deal with waiting anxiously for something, while also having to deal with things that seem unbearable; things that at some point you just need to leave it behind...

I was still feeling sad and alone, but also very tired. It was a situation that took a lot out of me and the ones close to me. I just couldn’t wait to get passed that point in my life and move on to better things.

This song was written back in early 2014, right after I finished Far Away. It came out of me sitting down with my acoustic guitar and playing whatever seemed to fit what I was a feeling.

Much like what happened with Far Away, I wrote To Leave It Behind heavily influenced by Blaze Bailey’s Russian Holiday EP. With this song, though, I wanted to keep it acoustic-only (different than with Far Away, where I thought it’d be only acoustic and ended up adding quite a bit more to it).

The lyrics came out naturally based on the precise thoughts and feelings I had at that specific moment of my life.

The vocals were sort of tricky for me. Singing in a song where it’s just my vocals and one acoustic guitar is sort of intimidating for me. I’m not that great of a singer, and what I had in mind was Blaze Bailey’s powerful, passionate vocals on this type of song, so how could I make this work?

I do believe the more songs I write and record, the better I’m getting at it, and while I’m sure a real singer would make this song sound a lot better, I’m quite happy with my results.

The video for this song has reminders for myself spread through it so that, while I wanted to get those things out of my system, I can still watch this and remember what I’ve been through and appreciate what I have now.

Cordoba Acoustic Guitar

MXL condenser mic

It is an agonizing waiting game

Time slows down to a crawl

As we linger for a letter to arrive

We have waited like this before

But still it hurts unlike other times

Even knowing this is coming to an end

It was all for the Greater Good

Thoughts have been blurred by the distance

By every mile, by every trip I had to go on

Look at us, see how far we have come

Find the flaws and leave it behind

Let the shadows dissipate

It is an agonizing waiting game

But it is always good to know

That you will be there when I arrive

We have waited like this before

But still it hurts unlike other times

Even knowing this is now about to end

I wrote about our future

We hoped we were going to be together

But knew we'd have to be apart

It is now time to break that spell

My guitar playing skills have improved a lot due to this guy: Mr. Yngwie J. Malmsteen.

I started playing the acoustic guitar when I was 9 years old. I took a few lessons from a local teacher, learned a couple of songs, but hated it. At the time I already listened to Heavy Metal and the teacher was giving me some Brazilian songs I really didn’t like. I gave up and a few years later I didn’t even know how to hold a guitar anymore.

Fast forward it to when I was 14 years old. I saw an electric guitar at my brother’s friend’s house, and asked him if I could hold it. When I did, I knew I wanted to play it!

That year, I was listening to Guns N’ Roses quite a bit. At New Year’s Eve I started an odd tradition: I’d make sure that by midnight I’d be listening to a song by a band I wanted to learn everything on the guitar I could in that new year. I don’t remember what GNR song I listened to that year, but I did learn many of their songs and leads.

Then, next year I did the same: I’ve put on some song by Metallica, and that year I learned everything I could by them. I learned the riffs, making sure to follow James Hetfield’s down-picking, and also the leads.

And then, I had Yngwie’s first solo album spinning. The song Black Star starts with that beautiful classical guitar, and as the song develops, I’m blown away. I’m thinking, "what’s happening with the guitar here…? How’s this guy playing these licks and leads?".

That year, I had Yngwie’s tunes playing for New Year’s Eve, and I did to my best learning everything I could by him during the year.

I remember watching one of his guitar lessons (in some old VHS tape) and getting mad, because he played everything so fast (even when he said "now, slow…"). But then I realized that by learning those tricks he was showing, learning to play his songs wasn’t so hard after all.

Ok, let me clarify that: playing like he does, with all that precision, is very hard! However, hearing his work from that point on I could actually figure out what he was doing.

When I listen to the songs I wrote, I can definitely find traces of these two main influences: Metallica on the rhythm parts and Yngwie on the leads. Just check out either my One Man Band material or my band’s material, Descent Into Madness, and you’ll probably hear it, too.

Unfortunately, while I like everything in Yngwie’s early material, I don’t really care about the other albums. I mean, I pick and choose songs that I really like, but in all other albums there are songs that I really do not like.

Yngwie has had a selection of great singers with him: Jeff Scott Soto, Mark Boals, Mike Viscera, Joe Lynn Turner, Doogie White, Tim Owens. It’s a shame that he ended up getting stuck in his own formula and I lost interest in his work in the last 20 years or so.

Anyway, his contributions to the guitar world and to my own playing will never be forgotten!

#10: Gates of Babylon

Just two days ago I posted the original version of this song on my Rainbow (with Dio) Top 10 list. And now here’s this song again. Why? Jeff Scott Soto is one of my favorite singers, and at one point Yngwie Malmsteen was one of my favorite guitarists too. Put the two together playing one of my top favorite songs, and here comes greatness. Even though this is a list dedicated to Yngwie, I decided to start it with his cover of a song written by one of his main influences. He may actually not confess how much Ritchie Blackmore has influenced him, but listen to his own music, his licks, his solos, his ways to never play the same solo live (he plays just the most memorable lick and then improvise the rest), his attitude on stage, his "I’m a pain in the ass and I know it" attitude… he’s got it all. :)

#9: Don’t Let it End

#8: Pyramid of Cheops

This could very well be Yngwie's heaviest song. The riffs and chord progressions are dense, much different from most of his riffs, which usually sound weak (his a great soloist, but never been a great rhythm guitarist, as far as I’m concerned). The music goes really well with the theme (Egypt). Mike Vescera’s vocal delivery also fits in great.

#7: Overture 1383

#6: Trilogy Suite Op. 5

I remember how stoked I was back in the day when I learned how to play the first 1:30 minutes of this song...

#5: Rising Force

#4: I am a Viking

More great memories. This is another song I used to play with my band from teenage years. Our other guitarist used to play the lead, but at some point I learned to play it too, and it was really a lot of fun to play it. One of these days I’ll have to relearn it. The lyrics to this song are very cheesy, but the song itself is great, and so are the vocals.

#3: As Above So Below

Some more cheesy lyrics here, but the guitars are so good! I think this was the first Yngwie’s song I’ve learned to play note-by-note on the guitar back then. Good times!

#2: Far Beyond the Sun

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#1: Black Star

This is the first song I’ve heard from Yngwie, and I remember how it blew me away. When I listened to most bands around that time I could sort of visualize what was going on with the guitars, but then listening to this track I was like "how the hell is this guy doing this…?!". I had never heard anything like that. It was a time when I already listened mostly to Metal, but was also discovering classical music on my own. Then comes this guy playing this classical sounding guitar with a metal band. I was totally amazed by it.

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People deal with certain thoughts and emotions in very specific ways. In my case, I decided writing songs is a very good way for me to keep my sanity. I wrote Far Away while charged with feelings and thoughts that were constantly present in my life at a certain point.

This song was written in early 2014. At first it was only going to be an acoustic piece. The video below shows exactly how it was when I thought I was done writing it:

After recording one version like that and listening to it a couple of times, I started to hear some parts played on the electric guitar, as well as some orchestration. So I ended up adding some layers to the arrangement, drums, and a little melody on the guitars to lead me into the last section of the song.

All the parts played on the electric guitar were written totally based on what I wrote for on the classical guitar. I broke the chords down and split them up in ways to make it work with distortion. Some parts worked well with distortion, and the parts that didn’t I turned to the keyboards. That’s a technique I’ve learned watching John Petrucci’s Rock Discipline video so many years ago (excellent video, by the way). This is a short video of me playing a part once I figured how I wanted it to sound (I was very specific about playing it with upstrokes):

I also like how I ended up playing the main vocal line on the acoustic and electric guitar at the beginning of the song. I definitely didn’t think about doing that as I wrote the song originally.

I believe this song came out as a direct influence of Blaze Bailey’s Russian Holiday EP. I like that album so much, with mostly his vocals and an acoustic guitar. Blaze puts so much passion into singing those songs that I felt really inspired to write something like that. Of course, it’s obvious I can’t sing like him, but I’m still happy with the results. To quote Willian Hung, "I already gave my best, and I have no regrets at all". 😃

My two most favorites off Blaze’s EP are the title track, Russian Holiday, and One More Step (this one I always listen to when I need an extra push to go on with my day. Wonderful song for me).

The drums for this song are simple, but for me it was interesting finding something that worked in the 6/4 signature, and then turns into 4/4 (I think that’s it… I’m one of those musicians who write music but don’t know what they’re actually doing).

The bass lines were written borrowing melodies off the vocals and the main pieces I wrote on the acoustic guitar.

This song didn’t really ask for guitar solos. I only wrote a little melody over the transition into the final section of the song because I really heard something like that for the part.

The lyrics for this song are a representation of what I was going through at that moment. This is something I really started practicing in the last few years: whenever there are thoughts that keep coming back, that keep bothering me, I take them out of my head and turn them into lyrics.

It seems to help me recognizing the thoughts, getting them out of my mind, and turning them into music. Whenever I listen to the song, I remember how those thoughts affected me, what I was going through, and how I want to avoid it from happening again.

The vocals were written in the same way I normally do: I record a basic version of the song and listen to it over and over again, until I start hearing the melodies in my head. I keep humming to the song non-sense lyrics until certain melodies stick, and then I write the words, and fit them into the vocal lines. I like how it came out in this song, as it does represent my mood at the time.

So, everything in this song came out of the original pieces I wrote on the acoustic guitar. The vocal lines I came up with ended up also working out well for some of the pieces I played on the keyboards. I’ve created a mix with no vocals and no instruments other than the keyboards, and I think it sounds good. One day maybe I can get an orchestra to play it. 😃 You can listen to this mix below...

This song is about how hard it is to be far away from somebody you love. The technology today enables us to stay in touch and feel like we’re so close, but yet, we’re so far away. This song is also about my reflections upon going from not caring if I was alone to really feeling the weight of being in solitude.

I was feeling sad and lonely. I was reflecting upon my life, the choices I’ve made, and as I mentioned above, I had to get those thoughts and feelings out of my system. I think the song came out in a way that it sounds pretty much the way I was feeling at the time.

Much like the lyrics and the instrumental represent well what my mood was as the song was being written, the video adds images to the words.

Schecter Guitar

Cordoba Acoustic Guitar

BC Rich Bass

Roland VDrum

iRig Keyboard

MXL condenser mic

FastPro audio interface

Mixcraft

Sony Vegas

iPhone camera

Words can barely describe the torments of loneliness

And I've once valued being here all by myself

What a waste of life have I been through?

Notes and words, bouncing off me

It resonates around me, illustrating my moments of solitude

No, I need peace of mind, in times of desperation

Don't leave again, we should always stay side by side

In the best times of my life, I had you there by my side

And now I can only think it's so hard to let you go

Why must we cry for the morning that has not come

We can't deny the feeling that surrounds us

I've been sitting here alone

Watching you

So close and yet so far away, so far away

Don't leave again, we should always stay side by side

In the best times of my life, I had you there by my side

And now I can only think, it's so hard to let you go

I'm sitting here alone

Watching you

So close and yet so far away, so far away

This is my most famous video in my One Man Band series. Most likely because it’s a cover of a hit from the 80’s. Now, why am I, a "metalhead" playing a pop song from the 80’s? Well, when I was a kid, my brother used to have a night club, and I helped him there many nights running the lights.

This song, Running, by Information Society, used to play there quite a bit. I liked the melody and I always thought a metal version of it would sound good. Well, a couple of decades later, I figured I could do the metal version myself. And so I did.

There are many metal versions of songs from the 80’s out there (raging from REM to Depeche Mode). I didn’t really had any of those in mind as I did my version of this song, though. For instance, while I like Lacuna Coil’s version of Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence, I definitely do not like their version of REM’s Losing my Religion. That song, in fact, has a very special meaning for me, and I plan on making two different versions of it. But I won’t talk about it until I actually get it done.

I didn’t try to get too crazy on the drums for this song. In fact, as I kept it simple, I managed to record it in a single take, which for me was a huge feat (please remember I’m not a drummer)!

It didn’t take me too long to write the two guitar solos in this song. I played over the background track for a little while, figured out the lines that were sticking to my brain and fingers, hit record, played the main lines and improvised the rest. It was good to have the video camera also recording at the same time; that way, I didn’t have to learn what I recorded just to make the video.

While the song probably has a very specific meaning to the writer, for me, it is a song that brings me good memories, hanging out with my big brother. The lyrics also have elements that I felt I could have written it, as it resonates with some experiences I’ve had.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow with Dio was such a perfect line-up. While the band has released several albums with other singers, not a single one of them comes close to the first three albums with Dio (I like some songs with Doogie White, but still…).

Rainbow Rising is a perfect album, a masterpiece, and the other two albums also have masterpiece-level songs, but in keeping with my restrictions for these series, I could only pick 10 songs.

So here we go...

#10: Catch the Rainbow

#9: Man on the Silver Mountain

How many classic songs has Dio recorded?

#8: Kill the King

#7: Self Portrait

Put two music geniuses together such as Dio and Ritchie Blackmore, and what comes out? Great tunes!

#6: Light in the Black

This entire album is pure gold!

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#5: Starstruck

Have I mentioned this entire album is a classic?

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#4: The Temple of the King

This is the first Dio song I’ve dared to record a cover and put up online several years ago. Such a great melody and pace.

#3: Tarot Woman

#2: Gates of Babylon

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#1: Stargazer

For your convenience, I’ve created a "Top 10 Rainbow (Dio)" Play List on YouTube. :)

As a longtime time fan of the likes of Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, etc, I’ve always wanted to write an instrumental song, but never actually got around to it. Until sometime back in 2010...

I started writing this song, Reconnect, back in 2010. The first thing that came out was the main guitar melody. All other parts came out of that. Fast forward to July, 2013, I finally had the time and everything I needed to finish arranging the song and record it.

When I wrote the melody I didn’t think at all what the rhythm guitar would sound like. When finally arranging the song, I started hearing in my head what the backing track music should sound like, and the song started to take shape.

The way I had it written, the melodies and parts were already chained together, so finishing the song’s arrangement was mostly a matter of figuring out what other pieces I may wanted to add to it. Once it was clear what the song was about, then it was clear what the missing pieces were: guest guitar leads by some longtime friends of mine.

While all the main parts were written based on the melody first, the part that starts at 2’30" was the other way around; I wrote the rhythm part and really liked the progression, and as I was arranging the song, I came up with the lick that goes over that part, and I thought it worked out as the perfect link between Andre’s solo, mine, and Milton’s.

The last section of the song I decided to start on the keyboard, and then transition into all instruments (with the riff as originally written). The idea of that part was to have this cyclical feel to it, giving the meaning of "what goes around, comes around", which sums up the overall meaning of this song.

As I mentioned earlier, I’ve always been a fan of instrumental artists. While I didn’t have any of them in mind as I was writing this song, I knew I wanted something that had a catchy hook melody (similar to my favorite Satriani tunes), and maybe one or two shredding solos (similar to Malmsteen).

The drums parts came out of what I heard in my head as I listened to the guitar tracks. When I sat behind the drums I just started playing it the way I was feeling it, and it came together real quick.

I think the trickiest parts were the ones where I had to keep the double kicks going for several measures (since my drum skills aren’t there yet), and the final section, with its specific time signature, which took me a few attempts to find something I liked.

Overall, I think this is my best drum work so far.

The bass lines either followed the guitar melodies or the rhythms. I know that bass playing is still my weakest, because I’m still not getting in a bass player mindset, so I still approach it as a guitarist.

After arranging the entire song, I made sure to have spots for solos for myself and both my friends Andre and Milton. I’ve sent them an raw mix, told them where they should put a solo on, and let them go at it. They wrote their leads, recorded, and send it over to me.

Andre was my guitar partner at my main teenage band back then. It had been almost 20 years since the last time we had recorded something together! He was the one helped me take my guitar skill up to the next level all those years ago. When he sent me his solo, I really felt like harmonizing it so we could be seeing playing the same part together on the video. Blast from the past!

My friendship with Milton also goes back 20 years, and we've shared lots of musical inspirations and recording tips over the years. We’ve always talked about collaborating on some song together, but actually done it, so this time I just had to make it happen. Having him lay a solo on this special track was great!

My solo in between the two: it was meant to be a musical connection between these two good friends of mine.

Wait, it’s an instrumental song, isn’t it?

Glad you asked. Yes, it is an instrumental song, but I wanted to drop in some spoken words in the middle of the song in order to add to the meaning of this track. I knew the song should be called Reconnect, so I looked up the definition of the word, and that’s what I used in the song.

Yes, I know, there’s nobody singing here. But again, I needed some spoken words, so there you go.

My original thought was to have my wife say the words, since she was the main sparkle for this song to be written. But she doesn’t feel comfortable with speaking English (yet…), so I ended up doing it myself.

I thought it’d be a good idea to play an intro to the song on the keyboards, based on the main guitar melody.

As mentioned earlier, I also like the keyboard part that works as a transition into the last section of the song. That one was little trickier for me, since keyboard playing is also not my forte at the moment.

The song is about reconnecting with people who are important in my life, as well as emotions that I had somehow buried inside of me. Both people and emotions tend to come and go. Sometimes you end up not seeing somebody you really like for a long, long time (for a variety of reasons), and when you get together again, it is as if nothing has changed… it just feels right. The connection is there.

I had just reconnected with somebody really important in my life. Somebody I hadn’t seen in years. At the first chance sitting alone by myself, I picked up my guitar and started playing whatever came to mind (and hands). Pretty much the entire song was written at that moment.

The video of this song, as it’s always the case in my videos, shows me playing the instruments and singing (because that’s my favorite type of music video, where I get to see the band playing). Also following my style, I add several things that only myself and a couple of close people may understand the meaning.

Spread through the video, there are little inserts showing me, sitting by myself, writing the song (I like capturing songwriting in video, as it makes it easier for me to relearn what I wrote).

Milton’s playing was recorded by himself and sent over to me, whereas Andre’s I’ve captured over a Skype call.

I really need to point out how great it was to have Andre also giving me some recording and production tips. I’m really no sound engineer, and I just know the bare minimum: I plug stuff in, and hit the red button.

Andre heard a couple of raw mixes, and gave me some simple, valuable tips on how I could improve the sound of my recording, and I believe the final result shows a lot of improvements when compared to my previous recordings.

Reconnect: Re-establish a bond of communication or emotion...

I started listening to Hard Rock and Heavy Metal when I was 8 years old or so (that’s as far back as I remember, which was right before the 1st Rock in Rio, in 1985). Why so young? My brother is 11 years older than me, and he was listening to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Rush, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin (the good old stuff, right?), so that’s the kind of music I grew up with.

At the time I already heard people saying all sorts of things about that type of music: "That’s music for crazy people", "That’s a lot of noise", "Are they even singing real lyrics?", "Can they actually play any instrument?". While there are many bands who are really noisy, many musicians who can barely tune their instruments, many singers who can’t really sing, many lyrics that are utter crap, there are unbelievably talented people out there too.

Once in a while I get into arguments with people about this. I don’t care about people who don’t understand anything about music, though; I rather get into conversations with open-minded people who do like good music. What do I consider good music? Music with good melodies, rich arrangements, good vocals, good lyrics, etc. There are songs I listen to where I do not like the vocals, but I do like everything else. There are other cases where I don’t really like the instrumental parts, but I do like the lyrics. In other cases, I may not understand the words, but the singers are so good that gets my attention.

So I decided write up this post on Hard Rock/Heavy Metal music that I think shows a lot of musicianship.

In the last 20 years or so, there have been several bands putting out live albums with an orchestra added to the mix, like Metallica and Scorpions, just to name a few. While I think the one Scorpions did sound great, I didn’t like Metallica’s that much. It just seemed like the orchestra was brute-forced into the music, and it felt unnatural, probably because the music had not been written like that to being with.

But them, here’s a band that way back in 69 wrote an entire piece for band and orchestra: Deep Purple! And this is one of the bands that paved the way for other Heavy Metal bands.

Now, I’ve just said that I didn’t like Metallica’s thingy with orchestra because it sounded forced, since the music wasn’t written with an orchestra to begin with. Then, I find out this Scorched Earth Orchestra. Now, this is Metallica’s music played only by an orchestra. It sounds great! The melodies, the intensity, the dynamics, it’s all there. In a way, this recording reminds me of my all-time favorite movie soundtrack "Conan The Barbarian", by Basil Poledouris.

Here’s a band that loves classical music and movie soundtracks. This rendition of the Star Wars’ The Imperial March is no short of Amazing in my book! Both band and orchestra blends in just perfectly.

And here’s Epica again. Not only can they re-arrange classical songs to work flawlessly with an orchestra, but they can also write their own music with an orchestra in mind from the get go. Got that? All of their music is written like this from the ground up. If they were to take out the orchestra, their music would sound like Death Metal. If they were to take out the band, the music would sound like Classical Music. You keep them together and you get something very rich, sophisticated, intense, melodic. Plus, their albums are always about a concept (Mayan culture, quantum physics, etc.).

Angra has always incorporated some of their Brazilian roots into their music. This song in specific is one of my favorite ones by them, as it starts with an acoustic flamenco guitar, it merges into some sort of Brazilian thing, and then the heavy guitars kick in, but still keeping Brazilian percussion and other things going.

Ritchie Blackmore’s Gates of Babylon is one of my top favorite songs of all times. I’ve also always enjoyed Flamenco music. Then here comes this guys who call themselves Flametal, and make a Flamenco version of Gates of Babylon. Win!

This is one of those bands I mentioned where I like the instrumental but am not too keen on the vocals (and the whole body paint stuff). But, listen to how the orchestra plays out with the band here. It’s perfect!!

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Then, there’s Arjen Lucassen, who writes all of his music and assembles a band with great musicians to make his musical creations a reality. He writes this concept album under the band name Gentle Storm. The album contains two versions: the Gentle (calm version) and the Storm (heavy version). It’s not just a matter of replacing one instrument with another, it’s a lot more work than that, trying to find what exactly works well in each version.

Thomas released an entire album a few years ago called Nylon Maiden: it’s his interpretation of Iron Maiden songs arranged and played on the acoustic classical guitar.

Opeth was introduced to me as "Death Metal meets Pink Floyd". In fact, that’s what they were: a Death Metal band with a singer who can pull both the growls as well as the clean "David Gilmour" vocals. Their music had a lot real heavy stuff and then all of a sudden an entire calm passage would creep up. Very interesting to hear. They’ve dropped the Death Metal vocals in their last albums and gone into a more progressive style, though.

Anyway, a couple of years ago they’ve released two albums simultaneously: one had their normal tunes (heavy!), and the other was mostly calm, like what you hear on the song below. Their chord progressions, the keyboards, the clean vocals, the arrangements… goodness!

Deep Purple was mentioned further above. The band’s Concerto was Jon Lord’s (their keyboardist) baby. When Jon passed, Ritchie Blackmore’s (legendary Deep Purple’s guitarist), wrote and released this tribute to his old songwriting buddy. No words are needed in such a short masterpiece.

Do I need to say anything about this one?!

I’ve had great conversations with intelligent people about songs and bands on this list. For everybody else, if after being presented such a list the person insists in saying that this type of music is for rebellious teenagers, talentless musicians, etc., then I just take a deep breath and tell the person to go $#*ˆ%@(#ˆ#(@$!!! ;)