The 2000s were a wasteland for guitar heroes. Nu metal’s seven-string groovers had little time for plank-spanking pyrotechnics, and even Metallica metaphorically glued Kirk Hammett’s fingers inside woolly mittens so he couldn’t let loose with any guitar solos during the making of St Anger.
Luckily, not everyone had gone cold on the idea. In 2005, a brand new video game would put the guitar solo back on the cultural map in a huge way. And one of the biggest beneficiaries were a power metal band from the UK who suddenly became figureheads for the return of lightning-fingered fretboard fireworks.
