''Concrete Gardens'' is the eleventh studio album by guitarist

Tony MacAlpine Tony MacAlpine (born August 29, 1960) is an American musician and composer. In a career spanning four decades, he has released twelve studio albums. MacAlpine is best known as an instrumental rock and heavy metal solo guitarist, although he has ...

, released on April 21, 2015, through Sun Dog Records.""Concrete Gardens" - Out Now!"
. tonymacalpine.com. 2015-02-21. Retrieved 2015-04-25. The album was first announced by MacAlpine on his official website in October 2013, with more details in February and December 2014. MacAlpine, Tony (2014-12-31)
"Happy New Year 2015: "Concrete Gardens" live at EMGtv"
tonymacalpine.com. Retrieved 2015-03-26. An official release date was announced in March 2015, along with the cover art, different editions of the album, and a U.S. tour schedule."New "Concrete Gardens" North American tour dates! [Updated"]
tonymacalpine.com. 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2015-03-26. To further promote ''Concrete Gardens'', a series of live studio performances of several songs were filmed for EMGtv,""Square Circles" live with special guest Jeff Loomis on EMGtv!"
tonymacalpine.com. 2015-04-15. Retrieved 2015-04-18. featuring guitarist

Nili Brosh Nili Brosh () is an Israeli-American guitarist. She has performed and/or recorded with Danny Elfman, Cirque du Soleil, Dethklok, Steve Vai, Tony MacAlpine, Paul Gilbert, Andy Timmons, Guthrie Govan/The Aristocrats (band), The Aristocrats, Stuar ...

, drummer

Aquiles Priester Aquiles Priester (born 25 June 1971) is a Brazilian drummer. He is currently the drummer of Brazilian power metal band Hangar, and progressive metal bands Midas Fate and Noturnall. As a tour drummer, Priester has played with Paul Di'Anno, Vi ...

, and bassist Pete Griffin. Guitarist

Jeff Loomis Jeff Loomis (born September 14, 1971) is an American musician, best known for his role as lead guitarist in the progressive metal band Nevermore during its existence from 1991 to 2011, as well as brief tenures in its precursor, Sanctuary (band) ...

is featured as a guest soloist on "Square Circles".

Critical reception

Aaron Small at ''

Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'' (''BW&BK'') is a Canadian heavy metal website and former magazine. Although based in Toronto, Canada, ''BW&BK'' features writers from the US, Germany and the UK, allowing the magazine to represent metal music f ...

'' gave ''Concrete Gardens'' a rating of 8.0, praising MacAlpine's skill at creating instrumental melodies in place of lyrics, "thereby building unique songs full of colourful character." He listed "Exhibitionist Blvd", "Man in a Metal Cage", "Napoleon's Puppet" and "Confessions of a Medieval Monument" as highlights, but criticism was directed at the final track, the instrumental piano piece "Maiden's Wish", for sounding out of place on the album and more appropriate for the early 1900s

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era.Small, Aaron (2015-04-17)
"Tony MacAlpine – Concrete Gardens"
''

''. Retrieved 2015-11-06.

Track listing

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

(tracks 2, 3, 5, 10),

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

– guitar

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''Star Wars Legends'' continuity * Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), a ''Star Wars'' character * Napoleon Solo, fr ...

(track 8) *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Pete Griffin – bass (tracks 1, 4, 6–8) *Lucky Islam – bass (track 9) *Sean Delson – bass (track 11) *Adair Daufembach – mixing *Seva David Ball – mastering *Michael Mesker – executive production

References

External links

Interview with Tony MacAlpine
at The Musician's Talk Show {{Authority control Tony MacAlpine albums 2015 albums Albums recorded in a home studio