Orchestrate

Orchestrate finds world acclaimed guitarist Michael Harris back with the most ambitious album of his career.? With a style best described as Neo Orchestral Metal, the album is a modern day masterpiece. One listen reveals the unique combination of electric guitar playing a very 'classical meets metal' style with an orchestra and metal drumming complete with stunning guitar virtuosity. On the album Michael comments, 'My original vision was to go back to my 'Defense Mechanizms' roots, yet to focus on one style, neo classical metal. As the record developed, I realized 'orchestral' was a better term, so I consider the record to be my one and only neo-orchestral record. My previous instrumental records have had some 'classical meets metal' compositions, but this record is focused exclusively on that style. I recorded all the backing strings, etc on my keyboard, and rather than playing chords, most of the time I treated it like scoring an orchestra, recording one 'voice' at a time. There is still plenty of guitar of course, and drummer Matt Thompson did an outstanding job. My focus compositionally was to create strong themes first and foremost, before the musicianship and full arrangements came into play.