Displaying items by tag: GuitarSlinger

In the dynamic world of rock and metal, there are a few names that demonstrate an unparalleled synergy of technical mastery and raw passion as Nick Z Marino, a powerhouse vocalist and keyboardist known for his work with Yngwie Malmsteen and his solo project NZM, and John Ivan Belousov, an internationally acclaimed progressive and thrash metal guitarist and songwriter, a member of the Michael Vescera Project, and co-founder of The Voices of Metal Project. 

In this exclusive interview, we explore their musical journeys, their life experiences and stories, and what drives them to continue evolving. Nick and John talk about the roots of their friendship, the commonality of their backgrounds and fate, and share the history of their collaboration, offering a rare glimpse into the minds of two artists who live and breathe music of the highest level of creativity, drive, and multi-layered complexity.

JOHN IVAN, GuitarSlinger

© 2024 John Ivan Belousov / Bestia Records (number n/a), 9 tracks = 59'05"

Hope you remember the days of triumph of the mighty US label Shrapnel Records — not only the first American metal label but, far more importantly, a kind of springboard for quite a number of guitar talents all over the US and the world. With a string of albums of such great players as Tony MacAlpine and Paul Gilbert (as a member of Racer X), that label and its boss Mike Varney, a good guitar player himself, wrote the modern rock formula of what an instrumental album of the 80s and 90s should be.

Sadly, such kinds of albums of little-known or even unknown guitar virtuosos are nowadays extremely rare, but a debut solo CD by Ukrainian musician and producer John Ivan Belousov has all the generic traits of those Shrapnel Records of old. Raised on a heavy diet of Yngwie Malmsteen and, eh, aforementioned US shredders, John was once a candidate for one of the last “true” line-ups of the legendary Russian thrash metal institution Master, although his own band Bestia, based in the city of Nikolaev in Ukraine, played a pure US power/speed metal and drew many comparisons with Racer X (again!) even back in the 90s.