Michael Angelo
No Boundaries

The notorious, super virtuoso par excellence, plays with 2 or 4-neck guitars, both right-handed and left-handed. He is terrifying.

But after the fear, one realizes the insignificance of his musical proposition. I'm talking about Michael Angelo. "No Boundaries," his solo album. Listening to this album, I often found myself wondering, "but who's going to stop him now?". Angelo runs fast, extremely fast. The technical sequences are to say the least absurd.
But the music? Already from the "Intro" it's clear that this album is about pure shredding. Note upon note, useless neo-classicism, zero composition, and I say: ZERO. Good riffs... sure, that's there, but beneath this jumble of well-placed riffs, Angelo masks his inventive insignificance or perhaps his desire to break the technical limits of the guitar. He certainly breaks them, but for a listener interested in music, this album is poison. The second track "Rain Forest" is repetitive, with melodic lines that anyone would be capable of conceiving, and then of course cascades of notes.

I am instead surprised by "Science Fiction," but only in the initial part, because it soon begins to offer us the usual licks and his unimaginable speed. And then this track presents so many variations that it becomes truly irritating and noisy. I fully save "Peace." Nice track, really nice, melodic, and let's say the technique is a bit hidden (it doesn't disappear... let's say Angelo calms his fingers for a bit). "I do it for you" starts to bring Angelo back to mere technicality, and "The Jam game" definitively throws him into self-celebration. Notice the notable length of the tracks: 6 minutes on average each... to hear note after note after note after note.
"2x Again" resumes the melodic discourse and I count it among the less demanding tracks of the lot. "No Boundaries" is a nice piece indeed... but it's almost annoying to hear him dabble in the neo-classical...!"Finish Line" seems like a new "Satch Boogie"... I say seems... but it's light-years away from it... "Outsideinside" is instead ugly, really ugly.

Honestly, I've been trying to review this album for a long time. What more to say? The ideas were there, but Angelo (as he has accustomed us) uses them worse and worse. Some things are saved, but just a few. For shredding lovers. For others: refrain.