The music world is full of stereotypes, and as such, predominately instrumental artists often get shoved into categories. Guitarist X is a shredder, a rock guitarist, a fusion player, a jazz artist - the list goes on. So when I received my copy of Vince LuPone's Screaming into the Abyss in the mail I, admittedly, expected it to fall into at least one of the above categories. I was sure there'd be a splash of something different, perhaps in a segue or an intro, but the majority of the albums that I receive usually fit a certain mold. Not to say this is bad, simply common.

Boy, was I wrong.

Screaming into the Abyss isn't a shred album, nor a fusion album, nor a run of the mill prog guitar album - it's all of the above and a lot more. Most impressively, it never once feels like it's doing "something different" for the sake of being different. The whole album flows from beginning to end without feeling as though you're listening to "A prog guitarist playing a slow tune", or "A rock guitarist playing in offtime". Quite simply put, Vince LuPone's album is a seamless array of well written, well played and extremely versatile tracks that run the gambit between moving melodies and aggressive chaos.

The opening track, Spirits Rise, sets a mood that Vince carries throughout. There's a sense of anticipation and pressure building from the synth intro, the syncopated melodies and the overall vibe of the song. Just long enough to make you want to see where he goes from there, it's a perfect mix of heavy melodies, Vince's terrific harmonies and a lush sense of songwriting rhythm and timing. In short, it does a perfect job of setting you up for the absolute punch-in-the-face heavy Lay't Down, a wicked 3 minute wah-laden stomp that's a barrage of low end dynamics and some stellar solo sections. The key here is maintaining tension and a feeling of "pressure". It's an earful, it's tastefully done and is all around solid songwriting that leads into Haven from Silence - a song with melodic tips of the hat to classic Iron Maiden and Queensryche, but is unmistakably Vince LuPone.

Going forward, Vince isn't afraid to experiment - and with hauntingly lush results. From the Cello intro to By the Time You Hear This, the rip-roaring blast Trail of Light, to the almost electronica feel of Forever in a Day, each song maintains Vince's fantastic sense of melody and outright stellar songwriting. He throws in some vocals (which are a nice surprise), and yet again in perfect unison with his backline the end result is impressive.

And now to the really, really good stuff.

Nothing True, a clean, beautiful song starts out with an intro that is simply gorgeous and drops into a haunting, reverb-laden twist of a track that's part heartbreaking and part uplifting. Moving on to At Peace, Vince again delivers a crisp, light and airy clean instrumental that is, quite frankly, beautiful. It shades of hope, light, peace and sadness all in one breath and it's a total earful without ever becoming overcomplicated. This all leads into, in my opinion, the best track on the album - Greater Day. Here, all of Vince's strong points come together in what sounds at first listen to be a relatively simple song. The fact that he can mix up 4/4, 6/8 and harmonize in 11/8 without ever losing the feel of the song is something that a lot of the more well-known "prog" guys even fuck up from time to time. The ability to mix complex songwriting into a very accessible tune is Vince LuPone's trademark. It takes several listens to realize just what he's doing on almost every track, and it's downright impressive the more you listen to it.

All in all this is one hell of a first release. Self written, produced and engineered, it's impossible to not only enjoy the shit out of Screaming into the Abyss, but be straight out impressed at Vince's all around musicianship, sense of melody and time and the glaring obvious: This is an album that he cared a TON about and had a great time playing. There's a great nod to Joe Satriani (Song for Joe) as well, and with a listen to the rest of the album you can hear the monstrous range of influences evident throughout it.

This isn't leaving my CD player for quite some time. As far as Screaming into the Abyss's title track - I'll leave it up to you to judge for yourself. You won't be disappointed.

Sound: OK, so I got this CD from a guy in the mail last week. He wants me to review his album for him, so I said hey why not? I almost didn't listen to it, mainly because I didn't want to review another wanky shred guy's album (most of them suck). I did cave in early last week and listen, and man, am I glad I did. I wasn't prepared for what this album sounds like. The sound is huge! The rhythm guitars sound like something off an In Flames album and the drums and bass absolutely cook throughout the whole album. The lead guitar lines are smooth and beautiful, and LuPone knows how to kick ass when he needs to as well. It sounds as if you put Joe Satriani, Moby, Marilyn Manson, and James Hetfield all in a studio together and locked the doors.

Once I found out it was recorded in a home studio, and that LuPone had recorded every instrument (even a few cello lines) himself, I was even more floored. This album is major label quality, and it was all done by one guy. The album is also suprisingly varied. There's everything on there from speed metal, to pounding southern rock, electronica and even some new age. The guitar songs never seem to get repetitive on this album, and each song is so different from the one before it, it keeps you entertained and wanting more. [5]

Lyrics: There's only 3 songs with vocals on them. Vince LuPone isn't a singer by trade, and while it's not his strong point, he's really no slouch. In the moving and enchanting song "By The Time You Hear This" LuPone confronts serious emotional turmoil and it sounds like it's either a suicide song or a song about removing a toxic person from your life. I think it was left artistically ambiguous, but I'll let you be the judge on that. Sometimes his voice can sound a bit bland, and this song probably would have been better with someone like Amy from Evanescence. Either way, though, it's a great moody song Type O Negative fans and Dream Theater fans will absolutely eat up.

Now the first song was good, but the second lyrical song absolutely blew my mind. "Forever In A Day" is the hands down best song on the entire CD. First, for you prog guys, the song's in 5/4 time. Second, it's got a hard Marilyn Manson/NIN vibe going on throughout, and third, the vocals are downright scary. The lyrics go through dramatic and violent scenes from a nightmare as LuPone recants the details viscerally. His use of metaphor is outstanding and the pounding, thundering music behind the words sets the stage. The song goes through peaks and valleys, and the music is laid out well with the vocals, at times even jolting the listener with extreme changes in volume or texture that hit just like waking up in a cold sweat. [4]

Overall Impression: This album is fantastic, and even though it says LuPone is on a record label, I honestly haven't heard of Weeping Shadow Records yet. Maybe they're a new independant, or maybe LuPone just made it up. Either way, this guy needs to get signed to a big label and fast. His music is so versatile, he could easily play concerts with anyone from Satriani to Dream Theater, to opening for Metallica in a huge arena. My overall rating of Vince LuPone's "Screaming Into The Abyss" is a perfect 5 out of 5. A masterpiece. Watch out world, here comes a great new guitarist! [5]