Album Notes

Electric Horrorland, Michael’s 3rd full-length instrumental release, is a total shred-fest and by far his heaviest release to date. Guitar rhythms grind out moshable chug riffs, break-neck thrash styles and ominous chord changes. Michael’s solo guitar work on this CD represents a temporary shift in his approach to instrumental song-crafting. “I decided to abandon all repeated melody verses and main guitar themes. This CD is an improvisational soloing experiment gone berzerk.” Michael’s style on this CD moves beyond traditional scale shapes and formulas and into the mindset that any note is game. “I really wanted to play outside-the-box. I’ve borrowed some of the chromatic and symmetrical ideas of early fusion pioneers, Al DiMeola and Alan Holdsworth. I pushed the boundaries of these concepts as far as I could while still trying to retain some musicality.” The result is a frenzied lunacy of freestyle guitar solos that bastardize traditional scale theory and usage.

The general concept behind Electric Horrorland is to pay homage to some of Michael’s favorite video games. With song titles such as, Twisted Metal, Resident Evil, and Ghost Recon, Michael attempted to capture the essence of game-play in his music. “I needed to emulate all the excitement, fury and violence of these virtual worlds as a testament to the power of the video game revolution.” The chaotic use of seemingly random notes set upon the mono-tone, thrash-style rhythms serve to reinforce their purpose. Moments of adrenaline surge and vice-like focus experienced in video games are mirrored in Michael’s music.

If you are expecting Satriani-style, refined melodies and repeated musical hooks, then this CD may not be of interest to you. If however, you’re in need of some in-the-moment,
raw power and energy, Game on!