Instrumental tracks on albums, a lost art of the 80s?

I remember back in the day every album used to have a ballad and/or instrumental track. It was pretty much a standard for the 80s heavy/power/speed metal. I wonder what happened and why and when this was dropped...

I miss little interludes like Rik Emmett used to do on Triumph albums.

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

EmoElmo wrote:

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

What are you talking about?

there are lots of bands still do instrumentals. intros, outros, interludes, full songs, all that. i can't really speak for modern power/speed/trad metal, but it's still a thing in death metal.

Instrumentals are still common in modern prog rock, of course that is expected.

I will second that instrumental tracks have not really been heard of lately in the heavy/power/speed metal releases in the last little while. Can't really say when they seemed to lose favour with bands.
Losfer Words & Switch 625 are probably my favourite instrumentals from way back when.

Dialectic Chaos off of Endgame comes to mind as a recent instrumental. Then there is Mutamitlu from The Mechanics of Perilous Times.

I usually skip them anyway. Very few are good enough as intors/outros. Like "Initiation" or "Send Me A Sign" on Keepers.
As a recent intro, Sabaton made it on "Carolus Rex". And Enforcer with their instrumental "Diamonds"

Dan Johansen is a fairly under rated instrumental artist in my opinion.

People only care about vocals! It is 90% of what they talk about in album reviews! Even in bands whose focal point is not vocals, like NILE or VIO-LENCE.

what irks me is that people will care about vocals, which is fine, but not lyrics (unless they suggest something Christian).....


I think there have been some good ones in the last decade..




major favorite..




Obviously....




also very good.




this one is slower, has some great shades of Satriani.


For me though, I'm not sure if Skyliner would ever do a full instrumental, although there's plenty of extended middle sections in the regular songs...(every song is like 7 minutes).. I just have a lot of stuff to write and I usually have some words that have to be married with a specific killer riff.

Duh! I was listening to Warp Riders last night and it starts off with a killer instrumental on both side A and B.

Rik Emmett (in case you didn't know):

Emmet was a master of those little classical parts in a song.

Ultimatum recorded instrumentals on our last two full-length studio albums. "Mutamitlu" and "Into the Pit"

chewie wrote:

I miss little interludes like Rik Emmett used to do on Triumph albums.

Yes ! Emmett was/is fantastic !

ultmetal wrote:

Ultimatum recorded instrumentals on our last two full-length studio albums. "Mutamitlu" and "Into the Pit"

I totally forgot about "Into the Pit"

Orion Crystal Ice wrote:

what irks me is that people will care about vocals, which is fine, but not lyrics (unless they suggest something Christian).....

I care about the lyrical content quite a bit and the vocal style, not as much but it still matters. There are some bands out there that have great lyrics but the vocalist is so bad or generic that the album is hard to listen to. The Guardian albums before Jamie Rowe come to mind as an uninspired vocalist with great lyrics.

Another example is Ultimatum. I heard a few clips on youtube and thought "wow, these guys suck!" but then I got a sampler off of Untombed.net that had "Mortal Stomp" on it. I played that track countless times and the unique style of Scott's voice has really grown on me (I actually bought several of the albums represented on that sampler). Ultimatum was a slow grower because of the vocals but the lyrics brought me back for another listen, and then it all clicked as a complete package.

S.D. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

What are you talking about?

I think this same thing after nearly everything this guy posts.

Anyway, I still see plenty of instrumental tracks out there. Not as many, maybe, but I think that's probably for the best. Far too many of those on old albums sounded half-assed, no heart.

Of course, I appreciate instrumentals more now that I'm older. Hell, I got Monkey3 jammin' right now and they do some great instrumentals. Check out this cover (which is what is playing now):



Fantastic!

I think it's because there's a lot less emphasis on technical skill nowadays. Whilst being an amazing guitar player could make you rich and famous in the 80s, it will most likely get you a thousand Youtube subscribers instead right now.

S.D. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

What are you talking about?

EVH ripped-off Emmett...he has been doing the two-handed "Rock" tapping long before "Eruption" bacame popular

A lot of the stuff I listen to is solely instrumental. It happens a lot in doom/sludge, post-rock, post-metal, atmospheric stuff.

EmoElmo wrote:

S.D. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

What are you talking about?

EVH ripped-off Emmett...he has been doing the two-handed "Rock" tapping long before "Eruption" bacame popular

Other players had done that prior to Emmett, both Allan Holdsworth (who Eddie has stated was one of his major influences) and Steve Hackett for instance. Eddie refined it into something completely unique to him though, so I don't think he ripped off anyone. Eddie was trying to find a way to replicate violin style runs on the guitar.

EmoElmo wrote:

S.D. wrote:

EmoElmo wrote:

Oh Rik Emmett, the dude that EVH became famous for

What are you talking about?

EVH ripped-off Emmett...he has been doing the two-handed "Rock" tapping long before "Eruption" bacame popular

Seriously, dude? That technique was around before Emmett and EVH could even walk.