Apocrypha

Like many bands agreed upon by California’s Shrapnel label, Las Vegas-based Apocrypha were brief in songs but lengthy in showy guitar playing. Produced by vocalist Steve Plocica, guitarist Tony Fredianelli, bassist Al Rumley, and drummer Mike Poe, Apocrypha released three shred-intensive rock albums: 1987’s The Neglected Scroll, 1988’s The Eye of your time (having added tempo guitarist Chip Chrovian), and 1990’s Region 54 (with a fresh rhythm portion of bassist Breck Smith and drummer Dave Schiller). Many of these had been reliably weighty, if rather mediocre with regards to songwriting, and had been recognized by Plocica’s operatic screams (frequently similar to Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate) and, needless to say, Fredianelli’s favorably blinding fretwork. Obviously, Apocrypha’s career passed away combined with the age group of acoustic guitar heroes, but Fredianelli proceeds to perform in lots of capacities and a number of styles. Pursuing his 1993 debut like a single artist (called Breakneck Speed, normally), he worked well as a program participant on Run-D.M.C.’s Crown Royal LP, and, lately, joined up with alternate rockers Third Attention Blind.