Review of the Album "Mind’s Eye" by American Neoclassical Rock Guitarist Vinnie Moore

“Mind’s Eye” is the debut album by American neoclassical guitarist Vinnie Moore and this album came out back in 1986. Here we are in early 2019 as I write on this and attempt to look back on an album that many fans of this style of heavy metal have probably forgotten now. The album’s style is very much in the realm of Yngwie J. Malmsteen but at this time in the history of heavy metal, America was solidly making a case musically that it could compete with other countries especially Europe.

Genre: Instrumental guitar music with Neo-classical based playing

Record label: Shrapnel Records

Band Personnel for Mind’s Eye:

Vinnie Moore: guitars

Andy West: bass guitars

Tommy Aldridge: drums

Tony Macalpine-keyboards

Robert Taylor of the website All Music says in his review of the album that “the problem with Mind’s Eye and the subsequent genre of shredding that followed was that it became stagnant,” (Taylor). Stagnant? How so? I myself have been a big fan of this shredding neoclassical style of metal so I may be biased in that sense.

In Control is the song that starts off this album and very shortly, we are hearing the shredding guitar work of Vinnie Moore as well as the exotic creativity.

Hero Without Honor features brilliant keyboard play by Tony Macalpine as musically the song has riffing similar to the song Prelude/Into the Future which would come soon after this album. Another part of this 4^th song features a style that is similar to the song “The Tempest.” Lifeforce has one of the most melodic and memorable riffs in the history of Vinnie Moore’s career and to that, we can all say thanks for being so brilliant that you were at this age Vinnie! Even if he technically is an Yngwie Malmsteen clone type of musician, Vinnie Moore is one of the best American born guitarists of the last 35 years or so. Jason Becker would have reached even greater heights had disease not crippled his abilities. Mind’s Eye the song sounds a little like a song off of the Rising Force Odyssey album but with better production.

This article was not meant to compare Jason Becker to Vinnie Moore but the point was made because since ALS pretty much limited Jason Becker’s speed and creativity, fortunately, Vinnie Moore has been healthy enough to show his creative skills and still make an instrumental album that is worthy of respect and admiration. The strongest songs in Mind’s Eye include Hero Without Honor, Lifeforce, and Mind’s Eye.

Bibliography

Taylor, R. (n.d.). ALLMUSIC. Retrieved January 13, 2019, from AllMusic.com: https://www.allmusic.com/album/minds-eye-mw0000191083