Impellitteri | Victor Entertainment (Japan) / JVC | 1996
Line Up:
Rob Rock – Vocals Chris Impellitteri – Guitars James Amelio Pulli – Bass Ken Mary – Drums Ed Roth – Keyboards
Production: Chris Impellitteri – Producer Terry Brown – Producer, Engineer
Tracklist:
Father Forgive Them (5:33)
I’ll Be With You (4:47)
Walk Away (5:29)
Kingdom of Light (5:41)
Countdown to the Revolution (5:20)
17th Century Chicken Pickin’ (4:32)
Rat Race (4:03)
For Your Love (4:28)
You Are the Fire (5:28)
In 1996, while grunge’s shadow still loomed over rock’s commercial landscape and nu-metal was gathering strength in the underground, a guitarist in Los Angeles was busy obliterating the notion that technical mastery and raw power were mutually exclusive concepts. Chris Impellitteri, never one for half-measures, assembled a lineup of proven veterans and proceeded to record what remains the definitive statement of his singular vision.
This wasn’t Impellitteri’s first rodeo—his 1994 offering Answer to the Master had already established the blueprint—but Screaming Symphony represented a quantum leap in execution and aggression. The production sacrifices none of the clarity needed to appreciate the technical fireworks while adding a gritty, muscular edge that grounds the proceedings in pure metallic fury. It’s heavier, meaner, and somehow even more relentless than its predecessor.
What sets this album apart in the saturated neoclassical metal landscape is Impellitteri’s almost pathological refusal to repeat himself. Lesser shredders coast on variations of the same patterns; Impellitteri constructs entire arsenals of rhythmic approaches, harmonic frameworks, and melodic structures across these nine tracks. The muted note drive of “Father Forgive Them” operates on entirely different mechanical principles than “Rat Race” or “I’ll Be With You,” yet all bear his unmistakable fingerprints.
Rob Rock, the powerhouse vocalist who’d become Impellitteri’s most consistent collaborator, delivers a performance that ranks among his finest. His range—from melodic mid-range authority to piercing highs—proves the perfect complement to Impellitteri’s fretboard assault. Rock’s ability to convey both spiritual conviction and metallic aggression gives depth to songs that could’ve been mere vehicles for guitar pyrotechnics. His soaring delivery on “Walk Away” transforms technical showcases into genuine anthems.
The rhythm section—Ken Mary on drums and James Amelio Pulli on bass—provides the foundation necessary for Impellitteri’s excursions without ever becoming mere timekeepers. Mary, a veteran of Alice Cooper and Fifth Angel, demonstrates how a drummer can be both precise and punishing, his work on “Countdown to the Revolution” a masterclass in controlled power. Pulli’s bass lines add melodic counterpoint rather than simply doubling the guitar, essential in music this dense and rapid-fire.
Ed Roth’s keyboards, while sparse, appear at strategic moments—a flash here, a note there—adding atmospheric texture without cluttering the sonic landscape. This restraint proves crucial; the album succeeds precisely because it knows when less is more, allowing the guitars to breathe while maintaining neoclassical coloring.
The album’s spiritual undertones, continuing from previous Impellitteri releases, never overshadow the music itself. “Father Forgive Them” and “You Are the Fire” incorporate religious themes organically, avoiding the preachiness that has derailed lesser artists. These are songs first, sermons never—Rock’s Christian metal background informing but not dictating the lyrical approach.
“Walk Away” exemplifies the album’s balance between technical achievement and pure songcraft. That opening riff doesn’t just showcase Impellitteri’s speed—it establishes mood, creates tension, and sets up the majestic chorus that follows. “Kingdom of Light” seethes with intensity, its nasty edge proving that neoclassical doesn’t necessitate polish at the expense of grit.
Then there’s “17th Century Chicken Pickin'”—because apparently even when crafting an instrumental showcase, Impellitteri can’t resist injecting humor alongside the fretboard gymnastics. It’s a moment of levity in an otherwise unrelenting assault, demonstrating that technical mastery and self-awareness can coexist.
The Road Not Taken: Career Trajectory in a Hostile Market
Screaming Symphony should’ve been a breakthrough. It deserved to be. Instead, it became another chapter in the long saga of tremendous talent meeting market indifference. The mid-1990s American music industry had little appetite for shred guitar and power metal, regardless of quality. While the album found devoted audiences in Japan and Europe—hence its initial Japanese release through Victor Entertainment—it barely registered in the United States.
Impellitteri continued releasing albums throughout the late ’90s and 2000s with admirable consistency: Eye of the Hurricane (1997), Crunch (2000), System X (2002), and beyond. Each maintained the technical standards, each found the faithful, and each struggled for wider recognition. The Rob Rock/Chris Impellitteri partnership became the band’s most stable creative axis, though even Rock departed periodically to pursue his solo career and work with other projects like Axel Rudi Pell.
The 2000s saw brief moments where technical metal threatened mainstream resurgence, but Impellitteri never capitalized. By then, he’d been relegated to “cult favorite” status—respected by fellow musicians, worshipped by shred enthusiasts, largely unknown to casual metal fans. Albums like Wicked Maiden (2009) and Venom (2015) and most recently War Machine (2024) continued the formula without reinventing it, with various vocalists rotating through the lineup as Rock came and went.
The 2020s found Impellitteri still active, still recording, still refusing to dilute his approach. The lineup had evolved multiple times over the decades, but the core vision remained unchanged: technically ambitious, spiritually informed, uncompromisingly heavy metal. Albums like The Nature of the Beast (2018) demonstrated that age hadn’t slowed Impellitteri’s fingers, though the increasingly crowded guitar virtuoso landscape—now populated by YouTube sensations and Instagram shredders—made standing out even more challenging.
Rob Rock, meanwhile, maintained a parallel career as one of Christian metal’s most respected voices, his work with Driver, Joshua, and his solo albums earning him a devoted following. His reunions with Impellitteri became events for the faithful, proof that the chemistry captured on Screaming Symphony remained potent decades later.
The cruel irony is that Screaming Symphony remains as vital and accomplished today as it was in 1996. The playing hasn’t aged, the songs haven’t dated, and the sheer technical achievement continues to inspire guitarists discovering it for the first time. It exists as testament to what can be achieved when virtuosity serves vision rather than ego, when speed enhances rather than replaces songwriting, when power and precision unite.
For aspiring guitarists, this album remains essential curriculum—a weekend-long masterclass in how to construct riffs that breathe, solos that sing, and rhythms that devastate. For metal fans tired of mediocrity disguised as accessibility, it stands as proof that uncompromising artistry can produce undeniable results.
The mainstream may have missed it. History won’t.
Essential. Uncompromising. Untouchable.
Written by: Shadow Editor
Ratings: 10/10
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