(Progressive Neoclassical Metal) Vitalij Kuprij - VK3 (Japanese Ed.) - 1999, FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

VK3 is Vitalij Kuprij's third solo album (get it!? VK3! It's an acronym!) and it offers up the same neo-classical keyboard wankery that was present on the previous two albums. Also like the two previous albums, this one is completely instrumental. This one differs in that it feels more like a progressive metal album than the previous two. There is less emphasis on traditional neo-classical song structures and more emphasis on syncopations and other rhythmical oddities.
My personal belief is that vocals would completely ruin this album. The songs do a good job of keeping you engaged without lyrics, and the addition of a vocalist would just cover up the main emphasis of this album, which is the keyboardist (what else?). Besides, Vitalij is probably not the most masterful English speaker, so any lyrics he could come up with would not be very good in terms of either depth or grammar. A vocalist would also push this project even closer in style to Kuprij's main band, Artension, and that would make this venture completely redundant.
As I said earlier, the main emphasis of this album is the finger-wizardry of Vitalij Kuprij, who is undoubtedly one of the best metal keyboardists out there. Literally every song showcases Kuprij's talent with furious keyboard solos slathered all over the place. He breaks up the monotony of his playing by using different keyboard tones in his shredding; sometimes it's the expected synth, sometimes it's piano, sometimes it's rock organ. A lot of these songs would be completely worthless if every keyboard solo used the trademark synthesizer tone. Somewhat surprisingly, there isn't much focus on creating an orchestral atmosphere on this album, even though it is very neo-classical. I think more use of strings as something other than a background instrument for outlining chord progressions would help this album quite a bit, but it's still good the way it is.
The guitar on this album is also of note. This being the solo project of a keyboardist, you might expect there to be no chance for the guitarist to shine, but trust me, there is plenty of guitar shredding on this album. During non-solo sections, the keyboard almost always gets the melody, but solos are split about 50/50. And Tony MacAlpine is not just some obscure guitarist picked out of nowhere. Any seasoned guitar player or guitar fan should know his name and respect him as one of the most prolific neo-classical shredders of this era. He is very Malmsteen-inspired, and this album is perfect for that style. The solos are blazing fast and never sloppy or out of tune. The riffs he plays are also really good, but they don't get much attention as usually the keyboard is on top. The riffs give a definite metal feel on most parts of the album, but often the songs slip into ballad-like slower sections (perhaps too often for my tastes). It's good to have a few slower sections to let your ears recover from the beating they receive during the rest of the album, though, and usually these slower sections don't last for too long before you get back to the face-melting assault of MacAlpine and Kuprij. There is one exception to this, which I will talk more about later.
The bassist and the drummer fill their rolls but don't do anything special. The drumming is a lot of double-bass drum work during the fast parts, but during the proggier parts there is a lot of syncopation and otherwise interesting drum work. Not anything that takes a ridiculous amount of talent, but this drummer is obviously no amateur. The bassist hardly ever gets a chance to shine (as far as I can recall, there might be one bass solo on this album, maximum). But he does give a nice bottom end to the album and has some fairly intricate parts. He's not heard specifically (unless you're actively trying), but if he were missing his presence would be sorely missed. Both the drummer and the bassist are complete unknowns to me and have note impacted the metal world in any way other than through this project and a few other obscure solo projects. Don't let that turn you off though; they are definitely skilled enough to work with the virtuosos that dominate the album.
None of the songs on this album are weak. Some are weaker than others, but all of them are a pleasant listen. The song "Forever"is probably my least favorite track, simply because it has almost none of the blistering speed found on the other tracks. Given the track name, it's probably written about romance or some other crap subject that doesn't belong in the realm of neo-classical shred metal. With vocals, this song would not be out of place on a rock album. Given that it's an instrumental, the same six minutes of slow playing and sultry melodies gets a little tiring (although there is a keyboard solo near the end that helps). Thankfully, this is the only track that suffers from this.
Overall, this album is a must have for lovers of neo-classical metal with emphasis on virtuosity, or anybody with a fetish for keyboards. Prog lovers and shred lovers should also take a look at this. It's an extremely well-produced album with great song writing and undeniable talent. While it might not be quite as strong as High Definition (Kuprij's first solo album), it is better than Extreme Measures (his second) and is an extremely entertaining slab of neo-classical metal, especially for fans of the genre looking for something better than Yngwie Malmsteen. I absolutely recommend it.
Review written by Charlo for www.metal-archives.com

Vitalij Kuprij - Keyboards
Jon Doman - Drums
Dave Naccarelli - Bass
Tony MacAlpine - Guitars