As the sole guitarist and creative force behind Massachusetts metalcore quartet Within The Ruins, Joe Cocchi has overseen the template behind their futuristic and dependably brutal wall of noise.
The band's current album Phenomena II combines their signature inferno of aggression with the kind of conceptual story arc you’d expect from a progressive metal band. And just like the rest of us, Cocchi’s approach to guitar has dramatically evolved over the years – to the point where his original guitar hero sounds nothing like the band he’s famous for playing in. As he goes on to explain, it all started with Ozzy Osbourne’s most celebrated guitarist, Randy Rhoads...
