Customer Reviews

No Boundaries

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Do you know any of those kids who sit around and play Pokemon or Magic: The Gathering? Imagine that one of them picked up a guitar, and put the same amount of time into it. I give you Michael Angelo. The name alone embodies the human ego.

I listen to all the big-time shred guitarists...Petrucci, Malmsteen, Romeo, Satrianni, Vai, MacAlpine, Becker, Holdsworth - none of these guys compare to Michael Angelo when we want to talk about speed. This guy is off the charts. I don't think he's a better all-around guitarist as some of those other guys I've mentioned, because speed is just about all he has going for him. However, this record is still worthy of five stars when it comes to this style of music. All the notes he plays are not only struck at the speed of light, but they are crisp, clean, and clear. No mistakes. I agree with another reviewer who says he generally plays the same arpeggios and the same scales throughout the record, but this record is professional enough to have been the soundtrack for a Nintendo F-Zero game!

Another significant element is this 'twin-guitar' he plays, which I heard he can play at the same time. Someone told me they attended a live performance, and he pretty much just fretted both guitars simultaneously. This means he should have some sort of ultra-sensitive pickup that makes the intrument playable without a picking hand. Truly amazing. I won't do a track-by-track analysis, because most of the songs sound the same, except for the bluesy 'The Finish Line.' My favorite track is 'The Jam Game.'

This is the only Michael Angelo I own, because they are hard to find new, but I do plan on purchasing more in time. I also recommend the guitarist Joe Stump if you want a more 'raw' version of Michael Angelo.

Not one of, in fact he IS the fastest guitarist on earth. 'Tis a shame his music isn't any fun to listen to. I mean yes, he's amazing and all that, but his lightning fast licks get boring when thats about all he does. He may play faster than Malmsteen, but i can actually listen to a full Malmsteen CD. If you want to hear the fastest guitar player ever, this is your man, but but if you want to hear a good guitarist, buy a Yngwie Malmsteen CD.

I'm actually not reviewing the No Boundaries Album. I'd like to talk about MAB's tutorial "Speed Lives" This instructional video takes his signature composition "No Boundaries" and breaks it up into 27 individual lessons. You don't have to be a lightning-fast shred virtuoso to benefit from this and other tutorials by MAB (Speed Kills is Excellent too! You're never too old! Ever wanted to learn "sweep picking"?? Very difficult technique to accomplish. Speed Kills and Speed Lives will have you doing it in pretty short order..if you're willing to work hard at it! There are simple, repetitive exercises and etudes that you can use to build up speed. I recommend using a metronome when practicing. I'm in my 50s and MABs tutorials had me doing stuff that I would never attempt 6 months prior to using them! You may never be a shred-demon like Michael, but if you work hard, you will see your playing improve significantly in as little as 6 months!

"PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!" Michael Angelo Batio

Amazon Admins: I couldn't find any of MAB's instructional vids on your site, so I thought I could comment on a couple of them here.

I think the reason why we don't hear Michael Angelo in the same breath as Steve Vai or Paul Gilbert is because he stuck to his guns and never did anything as overtly commercial as those two. Paul Gilbert joined M.r Big and did essentially pop rock with the shred toned down, and of course Vai is well known for being involved in projects from Zappa to David Lee Roth. I'm not criticizing those guys but the fact of the matter is, Michael Angelo is just as good as those guys, especially showing his strengths on his solo debut, No Boundraies. The album features everything from shred, prog fusion, to all out thrash metal, to soft neo classical passagess. I would say its up there with Jason Becker's Perpetual Burn because of its ability to be catchy and complex at the same time. The man stuck to his guns, recorded great solo albums while others went for more commercial pastures. Its a shame alot of people haven't heard of Angelo but I think people are starting to, and will continue to. What I hope for is a collaboration (which is actually rumored to take place one day) between another great shredder, Michael Romeo. Just imagine an album with both these geniuses together. That's going to be something definitely worth owning when it comes out!

I picked up this CD not long ago and I'm glad I did. MAB, as a player and composer, is absolutley great. I would go over the track list, but I think someone else has already done it.

Also, all these people on here saying "he has no emotion", and other things like that... have you guys ever stopped and realized, everyone has different emotions? It stands the same for guitar. Playing fast may be his way of showing emotion, just like some people show emotion by crying, and others don't. You get the picture.

Overall though, good CD. I would suggest picking it up!

Speed! That sums up this album to me. This guy is so blindingly fast, your brain will have trouble understanding what is happening. How someone could train their hands to do this in synch is hard to begin to comprehend. Imagine, he can play THIS fast on 2 guitars SIMULTANEOUSLY!

Michael Angelo has a unique gift, and that alone makes this CD worth the price. If you can somehow move past his speed, and listen to the music, you will be surprised. It doesn't suck! He's got some serious compositional skills, just listen to the title track 'No Boundaries', it's really a great guitar song. The opening song is mindblowing, it starts off slow (for Michael Angelo, which is faster than anybody else still), and as the song progresses it kicks into overdrive and you might soil yourself.

I'm making this guy sound like superman, which he practically is... except when compared to his counterparts! While Michael Angelo is BY FAR the fastest out there (he seriously makes Petrucci sound slow), technically, I find his tracks to be simpler than Jason Becker or Petrucci.

Again, I can't stress enough, main reason to own this album: You need to hear how abnormally fast he is.

Here's a secret: if you want to hear him playing full blast, get the other album 'Planet Gemini" too. The solo in Time Traveller will knock you to the ground.

Any number of finger pickers can give you more notes per second if that's what turns you on. And as for flamenco players who combine all sorts of techniques to match speed and passion they are a mountain above this style of pick-centered guitar technique.

This album justifies without a shadow of doubt that Michael Angelo Baito is the fastest guitarist of all time. Some people critize that he is so fast that he is not playing with enough soul or that he sounds like a machine. The bottom line is Michael Angelo has released one of the greatest Instrumental Guitar albulms of all-time. Not bad for a guy who never really went full throttle on the instrumental solo career like Joe Satriani and Steve Vai. The man can flat out play and he can easily take almost anyone else in the planet to school on a one on one guitar shredding duel. The songs are unique sounding like something that aliens created in a far away galaxy. Songs like "2xx again" and "I do for you" proves critics wrong when they say he can not play with any sense of tonal emotion. "No Boundaries" proves that he could of been a reincarnated Classical composer and could arguably give a concerto in E minor with his eyes blind folded. If it were not for the repetivie computerized drum junk I'd give it more like a 4.8 and actually would of given it 4 & 1/2 stars if allowed. Get this albulm is you want to hear something unique ans intruguining along the line of instrumental guitar virtuosity with a big load of alien folklore.

This is the first Michael Angelo Batio album I've ever heard. I already knew he is considered the world's fastest shredder before the purchase. Some other reviews seem to treat the guy like they do George Bellas by claiming he can't write good songs and only shreds throughout. These reviewers are wrong on both accounts although I admit we may have different ideas on what exactly constitutes shredding. This album has a few relatively mellow songs that make for comfortable listening and I was surprised at how restrained Michael was with the sweep picking compared to other shredders, e.g. Joe Stump. I also enjoyed his very clean playing. I can't put my finger on it but something about Michael's playing sounds unique to me. Maybe it's the tuning and the scales he uses, particularly when sweep picking. Still, the album lacks a little punch. Maybe later albums will supply this. He's certainly got my attention. Shred on!

m.a.b. is the best i think i ever heard. the song peace should be a soundtrack for a movie. this guy every thing he does is very good. i could see the music choice channel putting the song peace on their format. also rainforest is awesome,it is unique. some of his tracks could ve other newer cds by m.a.b.,and its all excellent. the track rainforest is very cool,really all of them are simply amazeing. i will be getting more of his work thats for sure. this guy is as good as they get for metalshred instrumental type music. this guy is simply amazeing. in fact this is one of the best rock insrumentals i have ever owned,and i have alot. he has great sense for melody and overall sound is complete.