Mick Neil – “Shades of the Day” – Album Review
Tracklist
1. Lift Off
2. Highway Drive
3. Claim Station
4. The Last Goodbye
5. What You Made Me
6. Break Free
7, ‘Manda
8. Friday Night
9. Quest for the astral plane
10. Rude Awakening
11. Shades Of The Day
12. I Never Forget
1. Lift Off
Starts off with strong grinding chords, leads into some cool harmonised guitar lead. Some nice shredding in this too. Also of note is that the bass is loud and clear to the listener, adding a lot of depth to the song, but this is probably mainly due to more production wise reasons.
2. Highway Drive
Starts off as a typical morning, the birds whistling and the car engine being started up… which sets your up for the actual song, leads into some crunchy riffs and harmonised licks on top. The song almost half way through breaks down into nice clean tone arpeggios for a while before kicking in with the distortion again into another lead solo.
3. Claim Station
Drum solo intro into an interesting sounding riff which sounds very space like, followed on top with nice lead melodies. Song breaks down with a cool drum solo half way through and following into more nice crunchy riff work. Some nice show of technique also in this song with some cool speed picking licks and a bit of sweeping in little bits. Very cool riff around the 5 min 30 mark, very metal sounding. Nice Tune.
4. The Last Goodbye
Starts off with melodic clean arpeggios, carries on with clean still into a very nice melody, lead guitar kicks in over the top soon after creating a very soulful solo. A lot of good harmonised lead melodies also in this tune too which create a great effect.
5. What You Made Me
Another nice clean intro to this one, a synth/keyboard enters with some nice chords blending in well with the clean melody. Of course, some lead work arrives in on top, some great shredding here. The song changes melody with a breakdown section of just guitar in the middle, still staying with the same formula of clean arpeggios, a cool bass line follows by itself joined shortly after with the clean melodies again and a cool solo on top.
6. Break Free
Cool rain and storm effects start this one off followed by a clean melody. Bass and drums kick in respectively and nice harmonised lead shortly after on top. Harmonised lead work is used a lot throughout this tune, and too full effect as well, creating some great melodies.
7. ‘Manda
Nice clean guitar chords at the beginning with a nice solo on top. Very laid back relaxing tune this one, nice chord progression with, as always, tasty lead on top. Yet more harmonised lead licks in this one, nice sounding too.
8. Friday Night
Another cool drum beat intro into an awesome fast paced riff, very energetic. Lead solo follows on top, and it rips. More great riffs follow, very beefy and chunky palm muted riffs. Breaks down into some clean chords and arpeggios to relax the listeners ear a bit, solo follows on top. Back into distortion it eventually goes with the solo carrying on – a nice effect. Great speed picking section around the 3 minute mark. The song breaks down again with bass starting it off and into more clean chords and arpeggios, followed by more relentless heavy riffage. Shred solo with more amazing riffs follow, outro consists of a great chugging riff while fading out with delay.
9. Quest for the astral plane
Interesting intro, sounds like you’d expect it to be on clean tone but instead its on distortion and creates a nice effect with some melodies. Lead solo kicks in soon after. Breaks down half way thorough with a drum beat and clean arpeggios and chords, cool sounding bass line as well. Kicks into a cool riff with distortion shortly after and nice lead work on top, another awesome metal riff kicks in after and nice lead following the rhythm line, sounds awesome. Shred solo perfectly fits in after, with great show of technique with sweep and speed picking. Breaks down again with clean effect chords and a nice solo, shortly after back into heavy riffage and pure rippin’ shred. More lead work following the rhythm line like before, really does blend brilliantly together. Breaks down back into melodic clean chords again and cool harmonised lead on top eventually fading out.
10. Rude Awakening
A 38 second track which I’m assuming is just a short interlude. A big long beep at the beginning, following someone breathing and shuffling something about… no music in this one! Another great use of effects to create visuals in the mind of the listener.
11. Shades Of The Day
Cool clean melody starts this one off, lead kicks in soon after. The song is clean a lot through with the occasional hint of distortion by some short riff interludes. Nice clean arpeggios throughout and soulful lead work on top.
12. I Never Forget
Great piano intro, harmonised lead follows on top of it. Heavy riffage combined with the piano creates a nice sounding effect and as always nice lead work on top, cool shredding. Outro fades back into just piano playing the great main melody and then the song ends, ending a solid album.
Overall I thought this album was good, the lead work was very good, I particularly like the use of harmonised guitars. Good show of technique too, clean sweeping and speed picking. Also something which I really enjoyed was some of the more heavier riffs on this album, definitely a metal band standard!!
The production was also perfect on this album, all instruments sounding clear, particularly the bass which you could really tell with the depth it was adding to the tunes.
I recommend this album to people who like there typical rock/metal shred, but with lots of clean atmospheric playing as well.
© Richard Niczyperowicz 2005
for more information, visit Mick’s official web page
2. Highway Drive
Starts off as a typical morning, the birds whistling and the car engine being started up… which sets your up for the actual song, leads into some crunchy riffs and harmonised licks on top. The song almost half way through breaks down into nice clean tone arpeggios for a while before kicking in with the distortion again into another lead solo.
3. Claim Station
Drum solo intro into an interesting sounding riff which sounds very space like, followed on top with nice lead melodies. Song breaks down with a cool drum solo half way through and following into more nice crunchy riff work. Some nice show of technique also in this song with some cool speed picking licks and a bit of sweeping in little bits. Very cool riff around the 5 min 30 mark, very metal sounding. Nice Tune.
4. The Last Goodbye
Starts off with melodic clean arpeggios, carries on with clean still into a very nice melody, lead guitar kicks in over the top soon after creating a very soulful solo. A lot of good harmonised lead melodies also in this tune too which create a great effect.
5. What You Made Me
Another nice clean intro to this one, a synth/keyboard enters with some nice chords blending in well with the clean melody. Of course, some lead work arrives in on top, some great shredding here. The song changes melody with a breakdown section of just guitar in the middle, still staying with the same formula of clean arpeggios, a cool bass line follows by itself joined shortly after with the clean melodies again and a cool solo on top.
6. Break Free
Cool rain and storm effects start this one off followed by a clean melody. Bass and drums kick in respectively and nice harmonised lead shortly after on top. Harmonised lead work is used a lot throughout this tune, and too full effect as well, creating some great melodies.
7. ‘Manda
Nice clean guitar chords at the beginning with a nice solo on top. Very laid back relaxing tune this one, nice chord progression with, as always, tasty lead on top. Yet more harmonised lead licks in this one, nice sounding too.
8. Friday Night
Another cool drum beat intro into an awesome fast paced riff, very energetic. Lead solo follows on top, and it rips. More great riffs follow, very beefy and chunky palm muted riffs. Breaks down into some clean chords and arpeggios to relax the listeners ear a bit, solo follows on top. Back into distortion it eventually goes with the solo carrying on – a nice effect. Great speed picking section around the 3 minute mark. The song breaks down again with bass starting it off and into more clean chords and arpeggios, followed by more relentless heavy riffage. Shred solo with more amazing riffs follow, outro consists of a great chugging riff while fading out with delay.
9. Quest for the astral plane
Interesting intro, sounds like you’d expect it to be on clean tone but instead its on distortion and creates a nice effect with some melodies. Lead solo kicks in soon after. Breaks down half way thorough with a drum beat and clean arpeggios and chords, cool sounding bass line as well. Kicks into a cool riff with distortion shortly after and nice lead work on top, another awesome metal riff kicks in after and nice lead following the rhythm line, sounds awesome. Shred solo perfectly fits in after, with great show of technique with sweep and speed picking. Breaks down again with clean effect chords and a nice solo, shortly after back into heavy riffage and pure rippin’ shred. More lead work following the rhythm line like before, really does blend brilliantly together. Breaks down back into melodic clean chords again and cool harmonised lead on top eventually fading out.
10. Rude Awakening
A 38 second track which I’m assuming is just a short interlude. A big long beep at the beginning, following someone breathing and shuffling something about… no music in this one! Another great use of effects to create visuals in the mind of the listener.
11. Shades Of The Day
Cool clean melody starts this one off, lead kicks in soon after. The song is clean a lot through with the occasional hint of distortion by some short riff interludes. Nice clean arpeggios throughout and soulful lead work on top.
12. I Never Forget
Great piano intro, harmonised lead follows on top of it. Heavy riffage combined with the piano creates a nice sounding effect and as always nice lead work on top, cool shredding. Outro fades back into just piano playing the great main melody and then the song ends, ending a solid album.
Overall I thought this album was good, the lead work was very good, I particularly like the use of harmonised guitars. Good show of technique too, clean sweeping and speed picking. Also something which I really enjoyed was some of the more heavier riffs on this album, definitely a metal band standard!!
The production was also perfect on this album, all instruments sounding clear, particularly the bass which you could really tell with the depth it was adding to the tunes.
I recommend this album to people who like there typical rock/metal shred, but with lots of clean atmospheric playing as well.
© Richard Niczyperowicz 2005
for more information, visit Mick‘s official web page
