PAUL WARDINGHAM — Assimilate Regenerate (review)

PAUL WARDINGHAM — Assimilate Regenerate album cover Album · 2011 · Progressive Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Time Signature
Guitarshock...

Genre: instrumental progressive metal

When virtuoso guitarists release instrumental solo albums, my experience is that these albums fall under two categories. The first one is the category of pointless self-indulgent, solo-fixated shredding and the second one that of is well-integrated solid music where all aspects of guitar playing are featured and given attention. Paul Wardingham's brilliant debut album Assimilate Regenerate fortunately falls under the latter category.

Assimilate Regenerate is not only a shred-fest. No, Wardingham shows that he takes songwriting and rhythm guitar playing just as seriously as he does the lead guitar work and the shredding. Thus, all tracks on the album a built around very strong and solid riffs, many of which have a certain sense of groove to them, and all of which are performed with mechanical precision - and by mechanical precision I mean that Wardingham does not miss a note (so, yes, it's a complement). I do not mean to say, that Assimilate Regenerate is void of emotional appeal, because it isn't. In fact the many guitar lid melodies have a lot of feel to them, and they are generally very catchy and memorable - you can hum along to them, and the goes to show that Paul Wardingham is about much more than just mindless shredding.

Now, Wardingham is a guitar virtuoso, and he is capable of some very impressive soloing and blazing shredding, and he does perform a lot of impressive technically advanced soloing, but this never comes across as purposeless or self-indulgent, because the music on the album is so well-balanced; the shredding and the leads are thus not just impressive, they actually fit into the overall music as an integrated element, which is something that scores a lot of points in my book.

Genre-wise, we are dealing with progressive metal (or cyber metal, which is Wardingham's own term), and at times quite aggressive progressive metal, as several of the compositions include uptempo thrashy drumbeats accompanying equally thrashy riffage - but, as hinted at above, melody is an integral element of this album, so you can expect lots of accessible and appealing melodies in addition to the all out butt-kicking massive metal riffage. I do not really understand the cyber metal label, I must admit, but I assume that it is either a reference to the overall sci-fi theme (another element that scores many points in my book) or a reference to the electronic elements that pop up every now and then.

Well, genre-babbling aside, Assimilate Regenerate is an extremely well put together instrumental metal album which should appeal to melody-, groove-, and riff-loving fans of progressive metal, and fans of shredding and blazing solos should also check out Paul Wardingham's Assimilate Regenerate.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Save Me From Myself Metal Related
VALAINA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Live At The Metro Hardcore Punk
THE ARMED
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mirror's Edge Alternative Metal
NORTHLANE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Ghosthouse In The Nightmare City Metal Related
UNIFORM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Bad Blood Alternative Metal
SETYØURSAILS
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

SETYØURSAILS - Bad Company (Official Video) | Napalm Records
SETYØURSAILS
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
SETYØURSAILS - Lately (Official Video) | Napalm Records
SETYØURSAILS
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
SETYØURSAILS - Bad Blood (feat. Adrian Estrella) (Official Video) | Napalm Records
SETYØURSAILS
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper - Shallow (Metal Cover by SETYØURSAILS feat. Mike Perez)
SETYØURSAILS
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
SETYØURSAILS - Best Of Me (Official Video) | Napalm Records
SETYØURSAILS
Bosh66· 14 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed