Alberto Rigoni has assembled an all-star cast of musicians for a 17-track release of instrumental metal tracks covering progressive, thrash, and neoclassical elements where some songs have more notes than some albums…
For those who don’t recognize the name, Alberto Rigoni is a bass guitarist from Italy who has been in a number of bands including Ascra, Twinspirits, BAD As, Bassists Alliance, and Natural Born Machine as well as contributing to a number of other artists projects. As if that wasn’t enough since 2007, he’s also released 14 solo albums chock full of guest stars with Nemesis Call being the most recent.
The opening track and video for “Rage of Olympus” give you a good idea of what in store for the much of the album. The opening guitar work from Thomas Polychuck is blazingly fast and amazing and all the guitarists on the album are of essentially equal talent. Interestingly, from my ears, the bass in many of the songs is not as prominent as I would have expected, showing Alberto has some restraint and has composed the tracks as more complete songs than ways to justify extended solos.
“Blade of Despair” continues in much the same way with a million or so notes being played at blazing speed, like if you sped up a Dragonforce song, which is one of the challenges to the listener on the album as many of the songs feature such fast guitar work that it all seems to blend together and after 17 tracks and 51 minutes, can be a bit exhausting. “Blade of Despair” is where Alberto’s bass lines do come through clearer and even features a short solo.
“Paradox” changes things up a bit and has an almost bluesy-feel to it before it settles into a slower tempo hard rock pace with solo guitar work over the top. The song itself has a more traditional structure it and picks up a great chugging groove part way through. The videos which include “Paradox” are a great intro for the album although they are just in studio performance clips so might not be that exciting for some. Personally, I love seeing musicians perform in this level of detail though, so I like them.
“Symposium” slows things down considerably and has some quieter keyboard and clean guitar parts where Alberto’ bass comes through and the relative lack of insanely fast guitar solos in the song works well for me. The guitar parts here have more of an emotional facet and the song reminds me more of instrumentals by other artists like Jeff Beck and Ritchie Blackmore.
“Haunting Reflections” is one of my favorite tracks on the album and has an awesome fast driving riff that would approximate a verse section of non-instrumental song. Add in some harmonized guitars and a bass and drum section that builds tension until the main riff explodes back and those pieces really make the song stand out, and I’m not even mentioning the Hammond organ appearance.
There are so many standout parts in the songs on this album, and with 17 songs this could be the longest review ever to mention them all. That being said, they tend to be similar to ones already mentioned although dirty groove riff in “Eternal Quest” does standout to me as does the opening riff and drum work in “Angry Again”.
Instrumental albums are tough to review and even more difficult to create as the instruments are the sole way to convey emotion within the songs and I think that is the one shortcoming I would mention with Nemesis Call. One simply cannot find any fault within the amazing musicianship on the album and from the production side it’s perfect. When you consider some of the musicians are pre-teen or in their teen years as well (see notes below), this is even more amazing. That being said, for me, many of the songs tended to blend together in the blazing solos containing as many notes as possible in the shortest amount of time and the songs that really shine are the ones when things slow down.
Rating: 8/10
Written by John Jackson
Tracklist
- Rage of Olympus (feat.Thomas Polychuck, Sajan)
- Blade of Despair (feat. Keiji by Zero, Sajan)
- Paradox (feat.Mike Terrana, Loida Liuzzi)
- Poseidon (feat. Alexandra Zerner, Mark Zonder)
- Symposium (feat.Samet Kilic, Victoria Acosta)
- Haunting Reflections (feat. Aanika Pai, Alessandro Bertoni, Thomas Lang)
- Eternal Quest (feat. Luca Princiotta, Leksa An)
- Out of Control (feat. Hedras Ramos, Steven Samuel)
- Never Enough (feat.Amar Alhock, Leksa An)
- Universe (feat. Roberto De Micheli, Michael Ehre)
- Angry Again (feat. Alberto Barsi, Shion Nakagawa)
- The Battle is Over (feat. Keiji by Zero, Sajan)
- Shadows (Yo Onityan, Shion Nakagawa)
- Crucible Chaos (feat. Alice Izy, Riccardo Merlini)
- Virgo (feat. Alexandra Lioness, Mark Zonder)
- Burning (feat. Alberto Barsi, “Tora Drums” Khuat Ho Xuan)
- Voices (feat. JayBird Byrne, Wiktoria Bialic)
Release Date: December 13, 2024
Record Label: Eclipse Music
Band Members
Alberto Rigoni – bass, keyboards
Guests
Mike Terrana (ex Rage, Axell Rudy Pell)
Thomas Lang (Steve Hackett)
Mark Zonder (ex Fates Warning, A-Z, Warlord)
Sajan (14 years old!)
Steven Samuel
Shion Nakagawa (FRCTS)
Victoria Acosta (10 years old!)
Wiktoria Bialic (soloist, session player)
Leksa An (soloist, session player)
Riccardo Merlini (soloist, Illogistic)
“Tora Drums” Khuat Hoa Xuan
Michael Ehré (Primal Fear, Gamma Ray, etc.)
Guitarists:
Alexandra Zerner (soloist)
Alexandra Lioness (Jenner, Sigma Epsilon)
Thomas Polychuck (In Sylva, Virgil Donati, Simon Philipps, Derek Sherinian)
Loida Liuzzi (soloist)
Keiji by Zero (soloist, session player)
Aanika Pai (11 years old, soloist)
Samet Kiliç (soloist, session player)
Luca Princiotta (Hardline, ex DORO)
JayBird Byrne (soloist, 14 years old)
Yo Onityan (soloist, session player)
Alberto Barsi (Il Volo, Madame, Nek, etc.)
Roberto De Michieli (Rhapsody of Fire)
Alice Izy (soloist))
Amar Alhoch (soloist)
Links:
Bandcamp: https://albertorigoni.bandcamp.com/album/nemesis-call
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/albertorigoni
Video for “Paradox”
Video for “Angry Again”
Video for “Rage of Olympus”