ADRIAN ENGLISH INNPLANETARIUM
We did a bio spotlight on the ballsy shredder Adrian English here http://goo.gl/bsZVY Well we have reviewed the much acclaimed CD INNERPLANTARIUM .
Before the review by tracks I've chatted with Adrian and would like to let you know Adrian is a great guy and very helpful, so after you check this review do look at the interview below it
Adrian uses Ibanez Universe 7 strings and Triple Rectifier plus the amazing AXE FX .
This 13 track album is a fully fledged live album with guests from fellow ShredGuy companions Toby Knapp , Sean Baker and Mike Abdow.
THE BAND
GUITARS -ADRIAN ENGLISH
BASS - RYAN MORROW
KEYS SAMPLING AND ENGINEER- MIKE McDAVID
DRUMS AND PRECUSSION- CHAS CANTRELL TRACKS
VIPER
Great sampling and a real motoring track pun intended .
This tracks full of energy and great guitar tones both rhythmic and lead .
Full sound and a really cool number
Solo - Rips and has great satchy legato trip and burning fretboard runs.
INNPLANETARIUM
This track and album name starts of with a long ascending harmonic (ala satch)
Great melody and consistent sound (I say this as with an axe fx its easy to get carried away with sounds)
Nice rhythm and great harmonic pinched through-out the melody
Solo- Burns like it should with Adrian at the guitar, tons of sweeps and interesting moves.
AWOO'S BEACH HOUSE
This is a really great sounding melody line with full rich use of that Universe777.
Loads of fills that are as technical as they are sweet sounding.
Solo - Burns like a Nevada tin roof ;) Very inspiring rock and roll shred track.
TEN WAYS
Consistent again and epic intro ...This starts off very melodic and very technical with it .
Theres some great jig rhythms and uplifting fills with the ascending sixths .
Solo ..Rips like a tight pair of cheap jeans ;) Love the low end on this album (axe fx helps)
TRANSCENDANCE
Funk Me , its groove time , but no let up in the notes , flying by at warp speed til the main melody or chorus floats over the bars.
Real nice phrasing with the tapping parts
Great engineering and very full sound. Solo let you have it with both barrels , shred is not dead !!!
SOLIDARITY
Starts off with a country fast vibe ...very nice , Nuno bettencourt kind a trip , love this track , tasteful and masterfully executed.
Solo as naughty as a nightworkers nickers , build-ups are great fun to listen too , there are some naughty shred runs in this , God help the transcriber who has to do this one .
SINISTAR
Low end chugging starts this dark track off , the drums come together real nice here , nice melody .
solo bad ass Adrian lets you have some ...great stuff.
VELVET RAIN
Sampled weather to set the mood and a very chordal beginning. Adrian brings us a great ballad , smooth guitar tones
and well played lines and harmonies . Adrian manages to put in lines that blow my mind even in a mid tempo ballad.
Great feel good factor.
PARANOMALLY
Kaboom - great start to the track , moody metal and keys ..best intro so far ...really sets the mood off for a rocking guitar fest.
Adrian plays on the timing really well , this song is very unique and my favourite up til now. The other tracks are great but this one had something magic about it.
WHATS UNDER YOUR SHRED
(whats under your bed lol get it shred.. bed.. aww never mind..)
Scary samples and Toby Knapp vibe here (as he is playing on it) , great rhythm , nice leads , rich textures and tones and loads of great tricks from Adrian . Love this thrash metal doom vibe ...turn this up loud for best results.
G-THEORY
Ive been waiting for this one , Mike Abdow is a great player and shows it off here on this track with Adrian
the last two tracks were my favourites but this one just took the lead , great guitarwork and clever song writing , great mix and just freakin awesome and epic
Adrian is a real great songwriter no doubt . This track is a real piece of work and yeah !!!
HARMONY CREEK
Starts off really mellow and balad with acoustic-esq vibe , full on emotional track and after all that shred this is a really breathy song of reflection very always with me always with you vibe but nothing like it .....if you get me ;)
CLOSURE
Acoustic , Flamenco , this is a real surprise and probably shown Adrian for the versitile guitarist he is , very clever acoustic guitar virtuosity. (Reminds me of a certain Mr A -Meola)
SUMMARY
Adrian English is no slouch of the fretboard his command of the notes he plays comes out not just in the speed he can play them but the vibrato and feel he puts into the notes and feel to the songs.
This album is really a SHRED ON A PLATTER , ShredGuy records has a reputation of brutaly crashing the speed barrier and this one does just that but with finesse and taste.
Before the review by tracks I've chatted with Adrian and would like to let you know Adrian is a great guy and very helpful, so after you check this review do look at the interview below it
Adrian uses Ibanez Universe 7 strings and Triple Rectifier plus the amazing AXE FX .
This 13 track album is a fully fledged live album with guests from fellow ShredGuy companions Toby Knapp , Sean Baker and Mike Abdow.
THE BAND
GUITARS -ADRIAN ENGLISH
BASS - RYAN MORROW
KEYS SAMPLING AND ENGINEER- MIKE McDAVID
DRUMS AND PRECUSSION- CHAS CANTRELL TRACKS
VIPER
Great sampling and a real motoring track pun intended .
This tracks full of energy and great guitar tones both rhythmic and lead .
Full sound and a really cool number
Solo - Rips and has great satchy legato trip and burning fretboard runs.
INNPLANETARIUM
This track and album name starts of with a long ascending harmonic (ala satch)
Great melody and consistent sound (I say this as with an axe fx its easy to get carried away with sounds)
Nice rhythm and great harmonic pinched through-out the melody
Solo- Burns like it should with Adrian at the guitar, tons of sweeps and interesting moves.
AWOO'S BEACH HOUSE
This is a really great sounding melody line with full rich use of that Universe777.
Loads of fills that are as technical as they are sweet sounding.
Solo - Burns like a Nevada tin roof ;) Very inspiring rock and roll shred track.
TEN WAYS
Consistent again and epic intro ...This starts off very melodic and very technical with it .
Theres some great jig rhythms and uplifting fills with the ascending sixths .
Solo ..Rips like a tight pair of cheap jeans ;) Love the low end on this album (axe fx helps)
TRANSCENDANCE
Funk Me , its groove time , but no let up in the notes , flying by at warp speed til the main melody or chorus floats over the bars.
Real nice phrasing with the tapping parts
Great engineering and very full sound. Solo let you have it with both barrels , shred is not dead !!!
SOLIDARITY
Starts off with a country fast vibe ...very nice , Nuno bettencourt kind a trip , love this track , tasteful and masterfully executed.
Solo as naughty as a nightworkers nickers , build-ups are great fun to listen too , there are some naughty shred runs in this , God help the transcriber who has to do this one .
SINISTAR
Low end chugging starts this dark track off , the drums come together real nice here , nice melody .
solo bad ass Adrian lets you have some ...great stuff.
VELVET RAIN
Sampled weather to set the mood and a very chordal beginning. Adrian brings us a great ballad , smooth guitar tones
and well played lines and harmonies . Adrian manages to put in lines that blow my mind even in a mid tempo ballad.
Great feel good factor.
PARANOMALLY
Kaboom - great start to the track , moody metal and keys ..best intro so far ...really sets the mood off for a rocking guitar fest.
Adrian plays on the timing really well , this song is very unique and my favourite up til now. The other tracks are great but this one had something magic about it.
WHATS UNDER YOUR SHRED
(whats under your bed lol get it shred.. bed.. aww never mind..)
Scary samples and Toby Knapp vibe here (as he is playing on it) , great rhythm , nice leads , rich textures and tones and loads of great tricks from Adrian . Love this thrash metal doom vibe ...turn this up loud for best results.
G-THEORY
Ive been waiting for this one , Mike Abdow is a great player and shows it off here on this track with Adrian
the last two tracks were my favourites but this one just took the lead , great guitarwork and clever song writing , great mix and just freakin awesome and epic
Adrian is a real great songwriter no doubt . This track is a real piece of work and yeah !!!
HARMONY CREEK
Starts off really mellow and balad with acoustic-esq vibe , full on emotional track and after all that shred this is a really breathy song of reflection very always with me always with you vibe but nothing like it .....if you get me ;)
CLOSURE
Acoustic , Flamenco , this is a real surprise and probably shown Adrian for the versitile guitarist he is , very clever acoustic guitar virtuosity. (Reminds me of a certain Mr A -Meola)
SUMMARY
Adrian English is no slouch of the fretboard his command of the notes he plays comes out not just in the speed he can play them but the vibrato and feel he puts into the notes and feel to the songs.
This album is really a SHRED ON A PLATTER , ShredGuy records has a reputation of brutaly crashing the speed barrier and this one does just that but with finesse and taste.
INTERVIEW
Hi Adrian thanks for taking time to talk with SK, so, how is the new album Innerplanetarium doing?
Thank you Mark, I'm really blessed to have the interest.
The albums doing really well, got alot of response on pre sales, still trying to get my name out there it got real high on the guitar 9 chart too , it can be an uphill struggle when your in love with music dude.
This is you second solo album isn't it ? how does it differ from the previous one A.D.D ? Completely different approach to writing and production! thats all I can say, working with live musicians and a small crew to help aid in a better production.
Also well as the fact that I have always liked writing simple and catchy but have always loved the ridiculous overkill stuff as well.
A.D.D. VS. INNERPLANETARIUM is a perfect display of my love hate relationship with shred guitar.
Your bio tells a great story of being in the right places with the right people , hows it going with shredguy ? is this another good stroke of luck ?
I actually was turned onto ShredGuy by 2 people, first awareness was through Rusty Cooley, 2nd with a fellow shredder by the name of Pete Pachio in 08'
of whom we did a re-make of my demo song Flight of the blue phoenix (a demo song to Mike Varney Shrapnel records back in the early 90's) , Mike McDowell
was kind enough to add us to the Shredding Across The World Vol. 2 release.
He then added me on the roster of Vol. 3 with G-THEORY, which I redifinedin the release
of INNERPLANETARIUM with of course a full band.
What do shredguy do for you as alot of guys just do their own thing and deals with record companies are quite rare arent they ?
ShredGuy has done alot in the way of getting contacts and full page adds in guitar world,guitar legends,fuzz,guitar plus,fire works and more to come.
He has really taken more of a noticeable individual focus on the artist as well as been out to spread the focus on the label as well.not to mention he has a line of shirts that kick ass!
Ok lets talk shredding , your a die hard shredder , what do you love about tearin the neck up ?
I have loved playing since i was 10 years old. obsessed really, I'm not the fastest,cleanest or most original or innovative player by any means but have always tried to out do my self weather it was
writing or playing. Ive always loved the sweep picking thing as well as gettin freaky with the occasional sweep octave tap thing.
Do you spend alot of time practicing ? what do you practice ? and what advice can you give our guys on getting great chops goin?
I do practice rudamentries3 to 5 time a week, I've found that through my love for playing I keep the sometimes boring aspects of "keeping up you're chops" by recording and writing new licks,
with drums and a rhythm back drop, which in some cases has either ended up as a solid demo or even... an actual song for potential release.
For the most part a solid practicing grounds for developing
my own style or approach to song writing and shred in general.
Lets chat guitars man , you very much like me.. love your ibanez's , what guitars are you using and do you own at the moment ?
All Ibanez's , infact I've have been working on a packet to send to Ibanez to attract an endorsement, we shall see. I have been playing Ibanez exclusively since I was 10.
Universe 7,RG-7string,Euphoria 6 string Electric Acoustic, RG 6string electric.
Ok lets talk gear man I know you have a great unit that you use in conjunction with your rectifier , talk Axe fx ..
Best purchase I've made in a long time, so far I got Glenny formerly of Skinlab hooked on it. a few other ppl that I know actually got it as a result of my investing in one. the thing kicks ass!
Do you have a spiritual connection or faith of any sort, and if so how does this affect your music ?
I would consider myself agnostic, a spiritual gypsy in some terms. I walk my path through life absorbing and taking in the good lessons and posatives from every different religion,
how this relates to my music is that I take a little bit of all my number of influences and apply that style not the "lick itself"...to my arsenal, which is still growing and maturing.
FAVOURITE
Band- Pantera "god bless dime bag!"
Albums- Def Leopard PYROMANIA "I was a kid when this came out and every song on that fucker was so well written and produced that as a kid actually influenced me in a few hidden ways"!!!
Shredders- George lynch, Edward V.H.,Warren Di Martini,Paul G.,Marty,Jason Becker,Shawn Lane,Tony McAlpine,Micheal Lee Firkins and of course a really huge later influence DIME BAG!!!!
Effect stompbox- my Bad Horsie II of which i
only use once in a while.
Strings- D'Addarios 7string super light guage
pickups- Steve vai customs
Pick- Dunlope Tortex (green)jazz M3's,these flawless little bastards i have been using since my teacher Frank Paulino@ HotlicksGuitars turned me onto them at 13 yrs old. Ill never useanything else!
Comedy- Dane Cook,Lewis Black,Clerks II,the list goes on. i love to laugh.
Solo- The main solo to MR. SCARY(Dokken) I've said it before....bio mechanical metal-tronic FEELING at its most and unreproducable FINEST, that solo WON awards!!!!!!!
New technology- THE M-PAD2 ,I want one , 64 gigger. it's convinient and looks great for doing business.
Hi Adrian thanks for taking time to talk with SK, so, how is the new album Innerplanetarium doing?
Thank you Mark, I'm really blessed to have the interest.
The albums doing really well, got alot of response on pre sales, still trying to get my name out there it got real high on the guitar 9 chart too , it can be an uphill struggle when your in love with music dude.
This is you second solo album isn't it ? how does it differ from the previous one A.D.D ? Completely different approach to writing and production! thats all I can say, working with live musicians and a small crew to help aid in a better production.
Also well as the fact that I have always liked writing simple and catchy but have always loved the ridiculous overkill stuff as well.
A.D.D. VS. INNERPLANETARIUM is a perfect display of my love hate relationship with shred guitar.
Your bio tells a great story of being in the right places with the right people , hows it going with shredguy ? is this another good stroke of luck ?
I actually was turned onto ShredGuy by 2 people, first awareness was through Rusty Cooley, 2nd with a fellow shredder by the name of Pete Pachio in 08'
of whom we did a re-make of my demo song Flight of the blue phoenix (a demo song to Mike Varney Shrapnel records back in the early 90's) , Mike McDowell
was kind enough to add us to the Shredding Across The World Vol. 2 release.
He then added me on the roster of Vol. 3 with G-THEORY, which I redifinedin the release
of INNERPLANETARIUM with of course a full band.
What do shredguy do for you as alot of guys just do their own thing and deals with record companies are quite rare arent they ?
ShredGuy has done alot in the way of getting contacts and full page adds in guitar world,guitar legends,fuzz,guitar plus,fire works and more to come.
He has really taken more of a noticeable individual focus on the artist as well as been out to spread the focus on the label as well.not to mention he has a line of shirts that kick ass!
Ok lets talk shredding , your a die hard shredder , what do you love about tearin the neck up ?
I have loved playing since i was 10 years old. obsessed really, I'm not the fastest,cleanest or most original or innovative player by any means but have always tried to out do my self weather it was
writing or playing. Ive always loved the sweep picking thing as well as gettin freaky with the occasional sweep octave tap thing.
Do you spend alot of time practicing ? what do you practice ? and what advice can you give our guys on getting great chops goin?
I do practice rudamentries3 to 5 time a week, I've found that through my love for playing I keep the sometimes boring aspects of "keeping up you're chops" by recording and writing new licks,
with drums and a rhythm back drop, which in some cases has either ended up as a solid demo or even... an actual song for potential release.
For the most part a solid practicing grounds for developing
my own style or approach to song writing and shred in general.
Lets chat guitars man , you very much like me.. love your ibanez's , what guitars are you using and do you own at the moment ?
All Ibanez's , infact I've have been working on a packet to send to Ibanez to attract an endorsement, we shall see. I have been playing Ibanez exclusively since I was 10.
Universe 7,RG-7string,Euphoria 6 string Electric Acoustic, RG 6string electric.
Ok lets talk gear man I know you have a great unit that you use in conjunction with your rectifier , talk Axe fx ..
Best purchase I've made in a long time, so far I got Glenny formerly of Skinlab hooked on it. a few other ppl that I know actually got it as a result of my investing in one. the thing kicks ass!
Do you have a spiritual connection or faith of any sort, and if so how does this affect your music ?
I would consider myself agnostic, a spiritual gypsy in some terms. I walk my path through life absorbing and taking in the good lessons and posatives from every different religion,
how this relates to my music is that I take a little bit of all my number of influences and apply that style not the "lick itself"...to my arsenal, which is still growing and maturing.
FAVOURITE
Band- Pantera "god bless dime bag!"
Albums- Def Leopard PYROMANIA "I was a kid when this came out and every song on that fucker was so well written and produced that as a kid actually influenced me in a few hidden ways"!!!
Shredders- George lynch, Edward V.H.,Warren Di Martini,Paul G.,Marty,Jason Becker,Shawn Lane,Tony McAlpine,Micheal Lee Firkins and of course a really huge later influence DIME BAG!!!!
Effect stompbox- my Bad Horsie II of which i
only use once in a while.
Strings- D'Addarios 7string super light guage
pickups- Steve vai customs
Pick- Dunlope Tortex (green)jazz M3's,these flawless little bastards i have been using since my teacher Frank Paulino@ HotlicksGuitars turned me onto them at 13 yrs old. Ill never useanything else!
Comedy- Dane Cook,Lewis Black,Clerks II,the list goes on. i love to laugh.
Solo- The main solo to MR. SCARY(Dokken) I've said it before....bio mechanical metal-tronic FEELING at its most and unreproducable FINEST, that solo WON awards!!!!!!!
New technology- THE M-PAD2 ,I want one , 64 gigger. it's convinient and looks great for doing business.