Mike Orlando - Sonic Stomp

Mike Orlando is a New York guitarist (and high school peer to Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal) who has been gaining quite a name for himself in the shred and extreme guitar circles. ‘Sonic Stomp’ is Mike’s debut CD and is in many ways a declaration of intent, and a throwing down of the gauntlet to those who create over the top guitar music.

style of music:

Full blown shred!

Website

www.mikeorlandomusic.com

Track by track…

‘Wheels In Motion’ opens proceedings with a shit kicker of a riff, and a definite Zakk Wylde (circa No Rest For The Wicked era) feel, with lots of aggressive wah wah infused pick harmonics. Right from the off you know you are in for an unashamedly old school full on shred musical journey. At 0.30 Mike unleashes a furious barrage of speed picked runs which remind me of a less overtly neo-classical Joe Stump. Make no bones bout it, this guy plays with agression with a capital A – there is a lot of extremely fast and frenetic speed picking here, including some of that patented Ronnie Le Tekro muted runs. Some more traditional neo-classical arpeggio sweeping hits at 2.10, and after an unrelentless barrage of notes Mike again dons a cap to Zakk with some very Zakkesque pentatonic playing at 2.50.

The title track ‘Sonic Stomp’ is up next and opens up with what sounds like (to me anyway!) some very Todd Duaneish string skipping warp speed axe work, before cranking into another great riff (again I can feel the presence of Mr Wylde) with a great sense of swing and groove. Indeed it is worth noting that this whole album has an innate grooviness, rhythmic variety and interplay with drummer Steve Tobin (and guest drummer on ‘Jam On It’ A.J.Pero from fellow New Yorkers and glam metal legends Twisted Sister) that separates this from almost all other releases in this genre. With lashings of speed picking and all the requisite techniques such as sweeping and string picking (although not a massive amount of legato a la Satch) this is a shred fanatics album first and foremost – but anyone into good old fashioned Heavy Rock/Metal will definitely dig a lot of this album purely for the sense of energy, and unrestrained fun that abounds.

Track Three ‘Game Over’ brings in a more major key feel, with some tapped main melodies bringing to mind some of Eddie’s work, as well as Paul Gilbert’s ‘Green Tinted Sixties Mind’; also there are some elements of Vai’s wide interval playing as well as a nice breakdown in the middle section. Indeed this brings to mind ‘La Villa Stangiato’ by those masters of cerebral prog Rush. A funky breakdown follows with some effective slap basswork from Orlando before lots of (again!) speed picked runs and a cod Malmsteenesque neo classical section towards the end.

Track Four ‘Jam On It’ takes a more hi-energy blues approach with some funky Robin Trower like riffs and some very Gilbertesque dorian blues sequences, combined with some cool open string pedal note riffs and, towards the end, quite a lot of Mixolydian phrasing. I personally think that Mike should consider ramping down the intensity on some of his compositions on future releases as he really does have a very good command of the blues idiom and possesses a great natural vibrato. The problem here is that just as you’ve settled down into listening to some nice lyrical guitar playing Mike roars in with a face melting bout of crazy speed. Very entertaining after a couple of brews though!!

‘Horizons’ is a more lyrical ballad with some Satch type melodic phrasing and some more of those Troweresque licks. Some nice melodies here – but again Mike feels the need for speed. One thing I would also add is that, in common with Michael Angelo, Mike seems to have a maximum playing speed that is always the same. Where Yngwie still has a difference to many in this genre is the un-quantised bursts of speed that act as a release and the elasticity of his sense of time – Mike is a bit more ‘regular’ in his approach to fast picking – again something that he could do with looking at.

‘Changes’ rips in with an almost Greg Howe (circa first album) type of riff and vibe – a nice shuffle groove, and some nice varied approaches harmonically. Mike is pretty much a straight diatonic player but here introduces some cool chromaticism – and it spices up the feel nicely. Great riff midway through, and a nice melody at around 4 minutes over some keyboard pads – now here his speed really works with the composition. However, a mere 20 seconds later there are some more crazy bursts of top speed playing and sweep arpeggios; these are so fast that most of the definition and colour of the arpeggio is lost and the only real definition are the lowest and highest notes.

‘Movements’ opens with a nice descending chord sequence and some cool octave based melodies; this takes almost a Zappaesque approach, with lots of differing musical styles that on the whole flows in a cohesive manner.

Track eight,‘Flex’, again has some nice wide interval and octave based melodies that are very effective, a great Symphony X style riff before an almost Dream Theatre-esque section. After this we have some of Orlando’s patented sweeps with manic tremelo picking at the highest note and a nice interlude – and we are still only at 2.20! Again mention must be made for the drumming on this album – a sterling performance! Coming up to the 3 minute mark we have a nice melodic interlude – Mike should make more of these – before some speed picking at around the 4 minute mark that fans of ultimate speed picking should seriously check out!

‘Slam’ brings to mind Yngwie’s live blues explorations again with some Zakkesque pentatonics and Trower type phrasing.

‘Velvet Sky’ is another more reflective ballad (although you are never far away from a crazy run with Mike!) whilst ‘A Moment In Tim’ is a film score-esque epic with keyboards and solo guitar – you know the score, a bit like Yngwie’s ‘Overture 1383’ (but less classical in it’s harmony) or Nuno’s guitar epic at the end of ‘Rock-a-bye Baby’ from Extreme’s debut, mixed with some of Steve Vai’s similar pieces – and Mike acquits himself well here.

To finish the album we have ‘Old School Boogie’ which is pretty much as the title suggests – from a hyper ‘Hot For Teacher’ Van Halenesque perspective of what denotes boogie. Some frenetic and highly speedy playing concludes an album that must be a contender for the most amount of notes that I have heard in a long while – if not ever!

Conclusion

This is a fine example of a no holds barred traditional shred album with a refreshingly honest approach to what has been a much maligned genre for much of the last 15 years. From Mike’s perspective th timimg couldn’t be much better as there is no doubt that this style of playing is much in vogue nowadays, with a whole new generation introduced to the full lexicon of shred techniques through bands such as Trivium, Avenged Sevenfold and Dragonforce. With the right promotion – and making sure that he gets out there and plays this live – Mike should find an appreciative audience for his own brand of singularly extreme guitar playing.

For fans of

• Zakk Wylde
• Yngwie Malmsteen
• Michael Angelo
• Paul Gilbert

• Joe Stump