{"id":17788,"date":"2012-02-01T16:32:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-01T21:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=17788"},"modified":"2013-01-28T11:11:36","modified_gmt":"2013-01-28T16:11:36","slug":"stephan-forte-the-shadows-compendium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2012\/stephan-forte-the-shadows-compendium\/","title":{"rendered":"St\u00e9phan Fort\u00e9 | The Shadows Compendium<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alissa Ordabai<\/span>
\nStaff Writer —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Dismissing the stereotypical presumptions about instrumental rock guitar albums as myopic self-indulgences, the Adagio guitarist\u2019s first full-length solo release is anything but an exercise in fretboard solipsism. It\u2019s all about spectacular splashes of tonal color, dynamic, racy melodies, cascades of high voltage neck-break runs, unexpected changes in time signature, and sudden harmonic detours that genuinely take you by surprise. <\/p>\n

Fort\u00e9\u2019s chops are highly commendable, but not to the point where they obscure the compositional purpose. The standout \u201cThe Prophecy of Loki\u201d is a quintessence of his approach where A-grade technique helps realize the compositional plan. Here the songwriting is what it\u2019s all about, with dramatic juxtapositions of moods and almost theatrical sweeps of emotion. <\/p>\n

And when it comes to technique, the 33 year-old Frenchman is a smooth operator, at times dizzyfyingly fast and extremely accomplished. But where other players like to show muscle, grit and versatility in articulation, Fort\u00e9 likes to give an impression of an effortless flow, with a light technique and a propensity to rely on effects to diversify his tonal palette. <\/p>\n

Fort\u00e9 occasionally misfires in the good taste department, and at times manages to sound profoundly meditative and shallowly superficial both within one track (see his rendition of Beethoven\u2019s \u201cMoonlight Sonata\u201d), but any such slip-ups are made up for by his fierce temperament, the dramatic audacity of his vision as a composer and his refreshingly unselfconscious approach to neo-classically-inspired rock guitar which for decades has remained a mainstream taboo. So kudos the young virtuoso both for his courage and for his contribution to maintaining the public\u2019s interest in high-tech guitar in such an imaginative way. <\/p>\n

Genre: Instrumental Guitar Rock<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1. The Shadows Compendium (Guest: Jeff Loomis \/ Nevermore)
\n2. De Praestigiis Daemonum (Guest: Matthias IA Eklundh \/ Freak Kitchen)
\n3. Spiritual Bliss
\n4. Duat (Guest: Glenn Dover \/ Megadeth)
\n5. Sorrowful Centruriode (Guest: Derek Taylor \/ solo artist)
\n6. Prophecies of Loki XXI
\n7. I Think There\u2019s Someone in the Kitchen (Guest: Daniele Gottardo \/ solo artist)
\n8. Improvisation on Sonata no. 14, C# minor \u2013 Op. 27 no 2 <\/p>\n

Online: http:\/\/stephanforte.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alissa Ordabai Staff Writer — Dismissing the stereotypical presumptions about instrumental rock guitar albums as myopic self-indulgences, the Adagio guitarist\u2019s first full-length solo release is anything but an exercise in fretboard solipsism. It\u2019s all […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6772],"tags":[336,1077,3872,334,2387,4260,4261],"class_list":{"0":"post-17788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-arcrvws2012","7":"tag-cd","8":"tag-guitar","9":"tag-instrumental-guitar-rock","10":"tag-review","11":"tag-rock","12":"tag-stephan-forte","13":"tag-the-shadows-compendium"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}