Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Critcally acclaimed solo guitar classic., 6 Sep 2007
Defense Mechanisms is Michael Harris's first solo album, recorded in 1991. Every track on the album is instrumental and focussed on heavy solo guitar. Although all of the songs on the album are very good, there are a high number of outstanding songs.
The title song, Defense Mechanisms is a memorable tune that showcases Harris's very deliberate and crisp sounding soloing in a lethargic but fast minor key. Tranz-Orbital Schizophrenia is more upbeat, with a 'classic' neoclassical heavy metal guitar style of the eighties. Mind or Heart is one of my least favourite songs on the album, as I feel it is a somewhat crude balad given Harris's very aggressive and sharp guitar sound and style, and I would gladly commit to say that balads are not Harris's strongest point, though in later albums there are some better balads. Nonetheless, the song is heartfelt and there are some nice rifs in it. Psychotic Biorhythms is for me one of the best songs on the album. It incorporates Harris's greatest strengths in terms of guitar work and songwriting, starting with the signature sharp and scatty soloing from the master, then perfectly stepping into a cool fusion verse, followed by the imaginative choras riff. Classical Conditioning is a nicely played tasteful baroque acoustic guitar piece. Eminent Domain is dark, deep, and slow guitar piece with heavy classical sounds and some catchy riffs. Some of the soloing verges on cheesy, but this is quite fitting of the dramatic style of the song. Collision Course, in complete contrast to the preceding song, is an upbeat and memorable rock guitar song, with an ingenious cool fusion pitstop in the middle before a classic rock solo with a notable piece of harmonising at the end. Tarantula is possibly the most superbly constructed heavy metal solo guitar piece I've heard; 100% solo guitar, with accompanying bass and drums, which is pure instrumental guitar. This is how neoclassical ought to be played, rather than the monotonous genre that has arisen out of Yngwie and Jason Becker clones like Joe Stump, George Bellas, and David Valdes, which calls itself neo-classical . Call to Arms is a balad paced 'memorable' guitar song, which verges a little on the cheesy, so this isn't my favourite on the album, but still has some blistering soloing. Octavian: Heir to the Conquerer is an ingenious neo-classical rock song, which like Tarantula, is truly original and the kind of imaginative way that classical music should be adapted to guitar shredding. The song is tightly composed, and has a perfect hybrid of classical and heavy metal. As with the rest of the album, the soloing is imaginative, sharp, and aggressive, unashamedly blending modern scales and styles with classical. Wolfgang Lives! is essentially classical music played aggressively on an electric guitar, rather than a neo-classical hybrid of classical and modern. It is a nicely played piece by Harris. The final song; Through the Eyes of Eternity begins with a fusiony style typical of Harris, followed by some slow lethargic guitar. For me there is probably one too many such songs on this album, as I feel Harris's real strength lies in ingenious blending of heavy metal, neo-classical, and fusion in aggressive and tightly contructed compositions. The middle section of the final song returns to these strengths of Harris, with an imaginative eastern sounding piece of guitar work.
So concludes a masterpiece album which showcases all of Harris's amazing skills and variety of styles, as well as his imaginative approach and ingenuity in blending different styles into tightly constructed and memorable compositions.
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