Himsa has completed the writing portion of their third album and are entering the studio today to start recording. This will be their first album with Century Records.

Derek Harn (bass) states: “The new album draws from the strengths of our last two records, Courting Tragedy and Disaster and Hail Horror, but this is an entirely new chapter for Himsa and our fans. Sammi Curr (guitars) wrote a lot of the music for Courting, and Kirby Johnson (guitars) wrote most of the tracks on Hail Horror (when Sammi wasn’t in the band), so the two of them have joined forces to craft a whole new level of rage. We’re looking at about 10 or 11 songs right now, and are extremely proud of them.

I look forward to this album. I loved Courting Tragedy and Disaster, and Hail Horror was really good too. I hope the new material is just as just as crazy.

The instrumental tracks will be produced by Courting Tragedy and Disaster producer Steve Carter and vocals will be tracked by Devin Townsend (Lamb of God, Darkest Hour).

[Via Ultimate Guitar]

As I said in my post about Michael Amott’s guitar setup, I went and saw Arch Enemy and Chimaira last night at MacEwan hall. I wasn’t really sure what to expect but I must say it was one of the better shows I have seen.

I went with a buddy of mine and we arrived after the first band. We got there just in time to watch them setup for God Forbid. They were pretty good for the most part. They had a really rad singer, but their sound setup wasn’t the greatest. You couldn’t hear the guitars over the bass and most of the backup vocals were pretty off key.
Continue reading Arch Enemy Freakin Rocked MacEwan Hall

In about 2 hours time I will be heading down to the MacEwan Ballroom at the University of Calgary to see Arch Enemy with guests Chimaira. I’m pretty excited for this show, I have never seen Arch Enemy play and I think Michael Amott is a wicked guitarist. In light of this I thought I’d do a post up about Amott’s guitar setup.

Michael Amott uses some complex midi switching on his live setup. Since he does a lot of switching in his songs and he didnt want to go with a multi-effect setup, he settled on a MIDI-controlled Providence looping/switching system.

From Guitar to Amp

It’s not that simple to describe Michael’s setup in list form since he uses multiple effect loops connected to his MIDI switch, but I’ll do my best.
Continue reading Guitar Gear: Michael Amott of Arch Enemy Guitar & Amp Setup

I have been seeing lately that a lot of people have been finding this site by searching for Alexi Laiho Guitar Lessons or Alexi Laiho Instructional Video. Since I don’t really have anything directly related to that on this site I thought I might post some videos I found on Google Video.

Alexi Laiho Interview and Instructional Video

This first is pretty sweet it’s both an interview and a practical lesson. Alexi talks about a lot of important stuff like practicing with a metronome, starting slow and building speed, how he writes a solo, and his musical influences.

At about the half way point he does do some hands on stuff on his guitar. He starts off playing it quickly and then slows it right down so you can learn it. He shows off some sweep picking licks with some tapping thrown in and then some chord phrases. At the end of the video he goes through 5 or 6 licks from some of his songs as well.

Continue reading Alexi Laiho Guitar Lessons and Instructional Videos

Some people can remember where they were when they found out Elvis died. For some it’s John Lennon or Kurt Cobain. I was much too young when Elvis and Lennon died and I was probably 10 or 11 when Cobain died, so I have no memory of those events. However, I remember the day I learned Dimebag had died.

It really isn’t all that glamorous, I was in class in college and a friend was on the computer when an IM message popped up on his screen breaking the news. At first we didn’t believe it, but a quick Google news search confirmed the report. That was a pretty depressing time all around.

To the point, I wanted to share this Dimebag Darrell interview with anyone who has not already seen it. In the first video dimebag tells the story of his first and second Dean guitars. He tells of the one that got away and a great friend who got it back for him. The guitar he sold and eventually bought back became his iconic lightning bolt Dean. In an interview taking place after a show in Milwaukee Dime talks about being happy and achieving his dream.

The second video picks up where the first left off. He gives his praise of the new Razorback design for his signature Dean guitar. The video then leads into some joking around between Dime and some of the crew and friends and then Dime heads back out on stage to play the end of their set. I hope everyone enjoys the vids.

Dimebag Darrell Interview at Deanguitars.com

I have found two more impressive shredding videos on Google Video. Both are the same player and he has some very impressive skills. The first thing that I notice is he is very precise. You find a lot with videos on Google, Yahoo, or YouTube most people who film themselves shredding are playing much faster than their technical ability allows them to. As a result it looks and sounds impressive to the untrained ear, but once you see a guy like this play you realize the others were not as good as they seemed.

This should be today’s (and every other day’s lesson): start slow and build up your speed. If you can not play each note cleanly, slow down until you can and slowly build up your speed.

This guy though, is very good. The musician is Chris Feener and the first video is titled Neoclassical Shred.

The second video from the same player is called Petrucci Shred. He plays licks from Flight of the Bumblebee and Into the Acid Rain Unison.

Basically his skills give me something to aspire to. I have just started practicing from John Petrucci’s instructional video, so hopefully I can build up my speed and ability and one day shred like this.

When Fender bought out Jackson Guitars Alexi was told it would take 1 year for them to build him a new signature guitar. When ESP told him it would only take them 3 months it was a no-brainer for him to switch. The Alexi Laiho signature is basically a Jackson RR Custom clone with some added visual flair.

The design of the guitar plays on the black pinstripe on white look that the Jackson RR1 Rhoads has, but with a more stylized look. The shark fin points on the body are straighter and slightly curved as opposed to the true edges on the RR.
Continue reading ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

Dimebag had always been a Dean player in his youth. His first Dean was a cherry sunburst ML bought for him by his father and his second a Dean that he won in a playing competition. The guitar he won later became his most popular guitar, the custom lighting bolt painted Cowboy from Hell.

When Dean went out of business in the mid 80’s Dimebag became a Washburn promoter. In 2004, not long before Dime’s death the Dean company was reopened by Dean Zelinsky and Dimebag was brought back on as an endorser. The Razorback Tribute has been released along with a range of reissued ML guitars in Dimebag’s name.
Continue reading Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar

Randy Rhoads designed this guitar and approved its prototype before he passed. It’s a shame he didn’t live to see this wonderful guitar come to production. Randy will forever be known as one of metal’s most talented and influential guitarists. So many of today’s guitar players were influenced by the man who made Ozzy and the Jackson RR1 Rhoads Signature screams just like Randy would have wanted.

The RR1 is Jackson’s most popular signature guitar, and not only for its name. The alder body and maple neck are built together in a neck-thru design. Neck-thru gives the guitar much more sustain than the cheaper bolt-on neck option.
Continue reading Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar

As we all know ESP is pretty much the guitar when it comes to metal. The company has 17 different signature models and most of them are for metal guitarists. The first thing that catches my eye about the Ninja is it has this classic flying-v look with an edge. The guitar was introduced like many others at 2006’s NAMM show. It comes in black and has chrome hardware and chrome pick guard.

Some of the features of the guitar include a set neck, 2 volume controls, a 3-way pickup switch, and Seymour Duncan pickups with a JB at the bridge and a 59 at the neck. For the shredder in us all the headstock sports Sperzel locking tuners and 22 XJ frets. To add that extra signature look the rosewood fingerboard has X shaped ninja star inlays.
Continue reading ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature Guitar Review

ESP number 3 on the list of signature metal guitars is Kirk Hammett’s KH-2. The KH-2 comes in three different models, the Vintage, the Neck-Thru, and the Standard, all at different price points. There was a time when I thought there were none greater than Kirk Hammett. I have since discovered otherwise, however there is no denying his guitar talent.

The three versions of the KH-2 are very similar. They are 24 XJ fret guitars with a 25.5″ scale. Each guitar has an alder body with a rosewood fingerboard. There is an EMG 81 pickup in both the bridge and neck position and they are controlled with 2 volume knobs, 1 tone knob, and a three way switch. Everything is finished in black hardware and the fingerboard is inlayed with skull and crossbones markers. On the pick end the bridge is an original Floyd Rose tremolo.
Continue reading ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar

Yngwie Malmsteen is sort of in a genre of his own. To call his music metal is sort of a stretch by today’s standards. Regardless, the guy can shred better than 90 percent of the players today, and without him, shredding wouldn’t be the same.

Inspired by to pick up guitar by powerful footage of Jimi Hendrix sacrificing his axe, Yngwie (Ing-vay) started playing with Hendrix and Deep Purple as his influences. Later he would become interested in classical composers like Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, and Vivaldi. Studying classical music, Malmsteen developed his own style of neo-classical metal.
Continue reading Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar

Unless you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’m a pretty big metal fan. I was thinking about doing a series of review posts on some guitars commonly used by metal guitarists.

To finish off the month of March, over the next 7 days we will look at 7 different signature metal guitars. Each of the signature guitars is from one of my favorite guitarists.

The guitars I plan on reviewing are as follows:

1. Guitar Reviews: March Metal Madness
2. Fender Stratocaster Yngwie Malmsteen Signature Guitar
3. ESP KH-2 Kirk Hammett Signature Guitar
4. ESP Ninja 600 Michael Amott Signature Guitar
5. Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde CAMO Signature Guitar
6. Jackson RR1 Randy Rhoads Signature Guitar
7. Dean USA Razorback Tribute Dimebag Darrell Signature Guitar
8. ESP Alexi Laiho Signature Guitar

So, check back tomorrow for first on the list, the Yngwie Malmsteen Fender Strat.

The Guitar Shred Show lessons site takes a unique approach at teaching guitar players how to shred. The site has a flashed base interface and is all in a video form. We follow the path of Mr. Fastfinger who teaches us to shred by example. It’s really easy, you just press a key between A and Z or 1 and 0 and Mr. Fastfinger will demonstrate a different lick for you. Along the bottom of the screen the lick is shown in tab form for you to learn as well. The really fun part is you can make your own shredding solo by pressing different keys from A to Z in succession. Mr. Fastfinger will move from riff to riff creating a wicked guitar solo.

It’s fun for quite a while actually. There is even a story mode where you have to dual with an evil tribe god to win the praise of the village people.

The lineup for this year’s Ozzfest has been announced and Ozzy will only be playing 10 of the 20 shows. Ozzy and System of a Down will be headlining the main stage. Black Label Society, Atreyu, and Unearth, three bands I would love to see, will be playing the second stage.

Read all of Ozzfest of 06 at antimusic