Review: Underground, the Debut Record by Blackalexxx

Roll over, Beethoven, 'cause it's about to get loud! Germany may have been home to Moonlight Sonata, but the rock gods will credit Italy as the birthplace of what can be rightfully named "the metal concerto," after hearing guitarist Blackalexxx's debut solo album, "Underground."

1. Serenity

This first track has some surprising twists and turns, with variations on the same basic rhythmic pattern. Blackalexxx has broken up this composition into several transitions that can be interpreted as epical musical movements. The introduction opens with a suspenseful, dark colored series of keyboard chords on beat 1 of each measure, and the electric snare makes a hollow reedy sound on each beat. The fourth measure transition contains an accented electric drum pattern of eight notes on each count.

The second transition opens with powerful running guitar lines, accented with heavy bass drum punches. Mid-ranged and vocal worthy, this features a calming but mysterious, eerie lick - repetitious in pattern, but Blackalexxx changes up the note variations with just enough tweaking until he reaches a much deeper range.

The third transition roars in with that chest thumping sound push that real show goers live for - the kind that pushes air out of the speakers and knocks the listener backwards. The rhythmic pattern of this section actually reminds me of a heavy storm, or running barefoot through a rainforest. It's kind of nightmarish - as if the guitar itself is the protagonist in Blackalexxx's epic who just entered a dream.

What's unique in this third transition is that this section also maintains the brighter pattern heard earlier, but with lower tones that are closer together, and this offers a much darker sound. If this section is meant to be a nightmare, it's more curious than menacing. Keyboards reenter with the same haunting chords heard in the introduction; a calm in the storm from the fierce, whirling guitar sound. Very quickly, the pounding bass reenters, and the guitar becomes a little brighter, as if the wind and rain are becoming tamer in the storm, but the thunder is still present. If a listener relates this to the aforementioned dream metaphor, he will note this as if the strange nightmare has ended, but the heart still pounds in wonder and in partial fear.

Serenity does seem in part a bit predictable with its repetitious patterns, but there's nothing boring at all about this track. Just as soon as we think we've gotten the whole song pegged, Blackalexxx enters with cymbals in a way we haven't heard yet on this track in this sort of caliber. The percussion is much faster than the intro, where previously it had the hypnotic effect of a clock ticking. Now, it appears more accented and staccato, like an unknown sound in the night that's breaking the familiar - the non-threatening familiarity of the keyboards. The listener should notice the unsettling break of the familiar that the cymbals create seem to "startle the guitar" when looking at the instrument as a physical protagonist. The repeated pattern is maintained, but now it sounds rushed and frantic. This mood doesn't last more than a mere few seconds.

The mood quickly becomes brighter and more relaxed, as if it were discovered that there was nothing at all to be scared of. Serenity continues in thick-stringed pleasured celebration with the electric toms joining in the jubilation. Again, this joyful mood only lasts a mere few seconds, just as the more nervous tone of this work did. Blackalexxx quickly switches to thin, high-strings, and transitions between them and low, darker strings. What can be more soothing to a rocker than this aptly named track?

From this point on, the guitar only changes its tone between majesty and joy. The pattern changes entirely at one point to a largo bridge in a majestic section. The high hat taps a short fill-in before we can return back to a very heavy celebration section that contains thicker, more excited drums. A mid-range chord strike adds variation and helps maintain this mood, and after a brief majestic pattern, Blackalexxx works in a heavily syncopated pattern mixed with celebration, and then winds it up into a great big untainted metal spindle of sound.

After a short drum break, the music becomes much more relaxed - like a benevolent dream state with a duel guitar sound and bright chords. It ends with a free flowing, fast pattern, resolving with a fading long tone. Serenity is an excellent choice for an opener on this album, and the amount of emotion in it goes beyond its title. This is my favorite track on this compilation.

2. Hot

Another tune that tickles us with an underestimation in its title is this hot little number that opens with a solo guitar, later forming its own accompaniment with moving eight note lines answering two staccato punches. The intro resolves with a short poppy snare and cowbell drum break.

Toms lead into the guitars wicked reentry. The thoughts proposed earlier by the introduction are completed in this section, as Blackalexxx adds four staccato guitar punches - duet to an extended moving pattern, with cymbals as an interesting choice for carrying the beat. The combination is sexy, exciting, empowering, and way too metal for words. This track in itself holds a complexity far greater than simply saying "rapid, ascending scales and triads, answered with offbeat pulses": it must be experienced to really understand.

The guitar seems to contain itself, musically, from a "mental explosion." Like all of Blackalexxx's songs, this one serves the purpose of personal interpretation as well as simple listening pleasure - as if we can truly get inside the multi-facets of this amazing guitarists personality and influence. There's always more than what meets the ear!

Also, signature to this composer-musician, are songs comprised of a main melody altered by simple key and note variations - not at all hard to notice in Hot.

Hot keeps the same integrity in regards to rhythm, but changes the emphasis, mood, and meaning with its variations. Sometimes it's a little sultry, later a little angry, and sometimes it's a little tranquil and shy. Never before have I heard the tone of a piece of music be so bipolar, but for Blackalexxx, it works. Genre influences are subtle yet evident, and there are elements of classic rock, blues and jazz through what on the surface appears to be an incredible rock guitar solo. This time, the synthetic accompaniment is present, but plays a role less dominant - simple chord accompaniment, metronome, and sometimes, fill-ins.

Unlike Serenity, there aren't any slow, majestic sections in Hot. This is loaded with fast-paced and intricate singing guitar lines - as if the raging strings are on fire.

3. Long Red Road to Texas

After hearing what Blackalexxx sounds like rockin' it out in the first two tracks, this one might throw the audience for a loop for a second - purposely. This one opens with a stereotypical, classical country western theme. They keyboard melody takes on a dominant banjo-like sound. Actually, it almost sounds like a computerized "muzak" ringtone. Underneath it all is a running bassline and guitar accompaniment, offering a slight fiddle feel or "dueling guitar and banjo" feeling at times.

This carries on for the first two minutes of the song until an abrupt Grand Pause.

Psyche!

Blackalexxx messes with our heads again, as he reenters with a playfully mocking, heavier version of the intro! The guitar hits the far extreme of high speed and range at times, with awesome, chest thumping fervor before quickly fading.

4. Kiss Away My Heart

This song opens with an acoustic folk feel with some phrases ending in dangerously close together diminished chords. Piano enters with a haunting, delicate presence and is quickly offset by the company of electric guitar. This has a theatrical feel to it, as if it could orchestrate a modern ballet, silent film, or contemporary opera.

Blackalexxx woos us again with a sobering epic tale that seems to have a yearning love song appeal to it. The piano gives emphasis between mood and tone changes - heartache to unsettling wonder - as if the guitar is trying to settle it's feelings and decide if it will move on or pursue something greater.

But, the piano almost fights the guitar, stirring the emotion of the entire track until they seem to work together in simultaneous emotional harmony. The acoustic and keyboard break is a celebration signal in this union, and the electric guitar rejoices in one of Blackalexxx's signature screeching, high-powered resolutions.

5. Tribe

For a completely different change of pace, Blackalexxx begins with syncopated timpani. Immediate jungle tribal dance feel. Guitar sounds like an Arabian scarf dance with its fluid notes interrupted with separated accents. This track has an overall exotic, mysterious feel. The percussion maintains a tribal feel with heavy bass and crashing cymbals. Though there is an obvious theme here, there is also an underlying rock feel throughout, and the technical difficulty in rhythm and key is pretty astonishing.

6. F.W.F.

This short song is mainly comprised of a jig rhythm with Spanish cymbal cracks. This sets the mood with a joyous folk feel and keeps the rock pace with sudden chromatic transitions. In a way, the composition almost sounds classical, but not to the degree that it disappoints rock guitarists in any way.

7. Underground

The albums title track has a combination of space age, industrial, and new wave keyboard and bass drum intro. It quickly breaks into heavy rock guitar riffs -- incredible melodic running lines. The break into the main guitar solo blew me away completely - just hot, raw, awesome playing. Following the guitar, a long keyboard solo enters with a short of Celtic, gothic feel to it. Underground surfaces with gut pounding accents on guitar, emphasized by electric percussion.

8. Forgotten

Forgotten, best described as an "evil ballet" opens with eerie guitar trills duet to an electric organ. The opening phrases following the creepy intro are Pink Floydish and operatic in tone, and the faster section seems a little brighter without losing that spooky feel. The influences appear Baroque and rustic at some points, and the emotion behind it makes even the guitar sound a little nervous in the moving lines. The finale to this evil dance is enchanting, as if the keyboard beckons the guitar, and they promenade together in unison. Forgotten we will never forget - as the tone enchants us yet leaves us with an unsettling, corrupt feeling.

Blackalexxx: Underground's overall dedication to real rock guitar musicianship makes the album a tribute to the instrument and a ballsy expression of this musician-composer's personality. To listen to four tracks from Underground and find out how to get a copy, visit Blackalexxx's home page at www.myspace.com/blackalexxx.