Reviewed: Michael Angelo Batio Discography

I recently listened to the discography of Michael Angelo Batio, who is commonly regarded as one of (if not the) fastest guitarist in the world. Below are my short reviews of each album, along with a rating out of 4 stars.

Michael Angelo Batio - No Boundaries

The first three and last three tracks of this album are some Batio's best ever; "No Boundaries" in particular is a modern shred classic, and a must-hear for anyone interested in the genre. The middle of this record does drag, though, and is no where near as strong as its start and end.
 

3/4

Michael Angelo Batio - Holiday Strings

A collection of rather blase Christmas tunes. There's nothing "wrong" with this CD, but there's nothing very interesting about it either. Just a note: there's no shredding, but rather it's all acoustic, with cheap-sounding symphonic backing tracks.

1.5/4

Michael Angelo Batio - Planet Gemini

This record begins with the typical hyperspeed shredding one expects in an MAB release, but the last six tracks are just all over the place. There is space-y ambience, a Doom-sounding videogame part, two tracks with vocals that come out of nowhere, and even a country section. Of course, this all adds up to one of the more interesting records put out by Batio, though it doesn't all work.

2.5/4

Michael Angelo Batio - Tradition

This album has some cool tracks on it, such as "China," "I Can't Take it No More," and "Voices of the Distant Past." The sheer speed and virtuosity of Batio's playing is also incredibly admirable. However, the whole affair (bajillion notes a second, every second) gets tiring quickly, and almost half of the record is made up of previous songs with the lead lines taken out (to play over, I suppose... but good luck with that).

2/4

Michael Angelo Batio - Lucid Intervals and Moments of Clarity

Batio's weakest solo album. The whole thing feels really long and drawn out, and virtually nothing of interest happens across the almost hour-long runtime. 

1.5/4
 
Michael Angelo Batio - Hands Without Shadows

Both the title track and "Dream On" are superb. The rest of the album isn't as strong; a lot of the tracks here are simply too long, and as is typical on Batio's albums, the hyperspeed guitar shredding loses its lustre after a few songs. At least he put his own spin on the covers here, though, unlike Holiday Strings.

2/4

Michael Angelo Batio - Hands Without Shadows 2: Voices

This is a sequel to Hands Without Shadows that I haven't gotten my hands on yet. When I do, I'll put a review up.