James Byrd (Fifth Angel/solo artist)

Just realized that despite all the Malmsteen and Uli Roth love shown here at CTC, James Byrd has never been mentioned in the forums… surprising. Definitely a heavy Uli/Schenker/Yngwie vibe in his playing, I’d say he was the equivalent to a more tasteful Malmsteen but with equally fantastic chops and vibrato. He was prolific from '85 - 2001 with releases but dropped out of the scene.

I’ve only skipped through the link above and although I agree with your description of his playing, he probably probably sounds a little too much like Malmsteen and probably had to battle the “Yngwie Rip-off” at every turn . Sounds solid though, I’m gonna give him a good listen. Never heard of him before this post - good call to bring him up!

Definitely some Yngwie similarities there in tone and style. Byrd’s first release with Fifth Angel in 1986 is more in the melodic power metal style, but he definitely moved in the Neo-classical direction later. Son of Man is probably my favorite release of his, this reminds me a lot of Uli’s Electric Sun releases more than anything Yngwie might have done:

Wow, really enjoyed this one, great vibe!

I knew his fifth angel stuff, because I bought every Shrapnel release when I was in HS. I have never heard this song, but wow that is totally Uli.

James is very talented, but his voice wasn’t quite unique enough to stand out. And the genres that he was in, really never reached mass popularity.

That’s a valid line of thinking. I like his playing on the one Fifth Angel album, but don’t think it’s unique for the time. On the other hand, the Octoglomerate and Son of Man releases are some of my favorite instrumentals. IMO, those releases were head and shoulders above the Tafolas and Chastains of the world (no offense, guys) in terms of uniqueness, tone and phrasing even with some of the Uli and Yngwie similarities. I think he could have benefitted from better production and would have gone further if he worked with a top-tier singer/band in the late 80s/early 90s. Neoclassical metal had definitely run its course by the time he put out Son of Man and Crimes of Virtuosity in the mid 90s. If those records had come out 10 years earlier (and had a real production budget), things might have worked out differently.

I do recall the Crimes record, maybe I heard it on Amazon Prime. I agree that he kept progressing (or regressing towards a more 70’s vibe), but found his voice. In a way, he reminds me of Mike Starr, of Burning Starr. Really good player, both of them great really, but it’s such a niche market. Hell, Paul Gilbert didn’t make a name until he had a hit single written by the singer as a solo song.

It’s funny you mention Tafolla and Chastain, as they were some of my absolute favorites. I really felt Joey found his voice on Infra Blue, but Plastic is just next level and Chastain’s 7th of Never is a top 5 traditional metal album for me.

I’ll have to check those records out, it’s been ages since I listened to those guys. Never heard of Burning Starr, worth a listen? Back in the late 80s I tried to keep up with the Shrapnel releases of the day, but couldn’t on my tiny budget at the time. I did pickup up one of Chastain’s releases and Tafola’s first solo album. Decent players, but neither stuck well enough to warrant repeated listens compared to guys like Macalpine and Moore, Racer X etc. Byrd I discovered through Son of Man and worked backwards from there. If I’d heard Fifth Angel and Atlantis Rising when they were released I probably would’ve shelved those too lol. As you said it took him awhile to find his voice for sure. I actually bought the second Fifth Angel record Time Will Tell when it came out and enjoyed the songs and playing on it, but Byrd was gone by then and I had no idea that there was another album out previously. That niche market you mentioned really just had a few good years, but they were REALLY good years for us guitar players.

Burning Starr is of the era. He is a shreddy guy, rooted in traditional metal, typical higher ranged vocals.

Chastain’s two standouts were 7th of never and the voice of the cult. I prefer 7th. He is a big Holdsworth guy, though picked, but his songs are all traditional metal with a phrygian flavor. Listen to ‘too late for yesterday’ and the awesome ‘the wicked are restless’. I like Leather’s voice, she is the perfect female metal singer.

Tafolla listen to Six-string Souffle and the song Plastic and Bitter (the solo at 1:30 or so is smoking!).

I too have the second Fifth Angel record, which I thought was better than the first. Yeah, picking up the guitar in '87 and discovering all of these obscure bands was a lot of fun. I don’t know if I would like them if I discovered them today, but 14 year old me loved the hell out of that stuff.