Michael Biddlecom - Then Came Silence CD art. Thank You Cheryl!
Strange Therapy kicks off with "A Race Against The Sun". The sound of the track can be described as new wave hard rock. The feel of the intro is heavy and the verse music is keyboard driven. Mike's vocals sound like Geoff Tate on this track. The chorus music drives hard and the guitar solo is melodic, fitting in perfect within the melody of the song.
Youtube music video link
http://youtu.be/7gLp0SRM8tM
"A Miracle Of Life" shows off more of Mike's musical and vocal versatility and his guitar and bass playing talent. The track starts off with a very melodic musical figure played simultaneously by a keyboard and guitar. The music has an 80's sound and the chorus has a haunting quality that drew my listening ear in right away. After the second chorus the song takes a heavy twist with a powerful guitar riff which leads into a ripping, guitar solo. This is my fave song on Strange Therapy.
Youtube music video link
http://youtu.be/rxhfy7vJ5QM
The third song, "Electro Plated Man", is a heavy rock song with a new wave, 80's sounding verse. Mike uses alot of different guitar sounds on this song and they all sound great. The chorus is heavy with some sweet, pinch harmonics. The guitar solo is Mike at his best, with blistering runs and double tracked harmonies that remind me of George Lynch. The guitar lead morphs into a cool, spooky, bass and keyboard dominated ending...
Youtube music video link
http://youtu.be/Qj9VW-y0CQM
"When Should I?" seems pensive in lyrical content and the guitar figure is fairly clean in sound. The vocals and guitar have alot of reverb and digital delay which creates the mood for the song. The keyboard fills add color into the fairly sparse, musical, landscape of the song. A hard driving, guitar riff kicks in which leads into another great, sharp, guitar solo.
Youtube music video link
https://youtu.be/dk2otuvx97g
"Big Sky Fallin" reminded me of Queensryche. This song is Mike at his hard rockin' best, the guitar rhythm is hard and heavy and the song kicks ass. This song is sure to please any 80's hard rock fan.
https://youtu.be/r8LL5GxyUEc
"Passages In Time" highlights Mikes keyboard playing and song orchestration skills. The intro sounds like it would fit right in on any horror movie soundtrack.
https://youtu.be/ACXw4VVS41A
"With Friends Like You (I Don't Need No Enemies)" has an 80's musical sound. The lead guitar on the intro is melodic and strong. I just figured out who's Mike's voice sounds similar to. Mike's voice can be compared to the vocalist from the Sisters Of Mercy. (great band, look them up on youtube) Mike sings in a higher range on this particular track. After listening to most of "Strange Therapy" it seems to me that one of Mike's main musical influences was the Sisters Of Mercy. The guitar solo on this track is one of the best on the "Strange Therapy".
https://youtu.be/ECY1NeLQAzY
The beginning of "Disconnected" is rather sparse and mellow, alot of the musical spaces are filled with percussion and clean guitar fills. This groove continues on for the first 3 and half minutes of the song then the music abruptly stops. A powerful, guitar dominated, groove kicks the song into high gear. The mood of the first few seconds of the song is shattered by the powerful, guitar part that follows and takes out the song.
https://youtu.be/sqScjklqgJQ
"In The Clouds" has an 80's new wave feel and sound.
https://youtu.be/2emG5OBl8WE
"Emeralds" is an instrumental track. The intro has a new age feel and sound. Once the multi-tracked, guitar melody kicks in the song takes on a rock/new age kind of sound. The guitar sound is similar to Gary Moore and Thin Lizzy. Once the guitar part is over the song switches into a new age sound only to switch into to a heavier type of rock sound with blistering, quick, guitar leads taking precedence. This is the Mike B sound that I enjoy the most.
Youtube music video link
http://youtu.be/kO1XxZWKZYM
Strange Therapy is a very impressive effort as Mike wrote, performed and recorded all the music parts and wrote all the lyrics himself.
Michael Biddlecom, Buffalo Guitarist and Songwriter
Michael Biddlecom is a very talented, accomplished rock and roll guitar player and songwriter. I've witnessed Michael's unique and diverse talents firsthand and I recognize and appreciate Mike and his music. Mike is an excellent guitar player and he has demonstrated his abilities live and on recordings in and around Buffalo for many years.
My first contact with Mike was during my audition for the bass position to complete the original metal band called Bad Blood. This band was formed in the early 90's and the other members included Chris Barron (Ezekial) on vocals and Ric Proctor on drums, Ric was formerly with a band called Actor, which featured Buffalo favorite Jesse Galante on vocals. I was brought on as the new bassist. After learning Bad Blood's original material, we went on to change the name to Vicious Circle. Vicious Circle went on to record and release 8 original songs.
Mike's recent return to the Buffalo music scene was with a CD of his own instrumental music songs. Mystic Compass was released in 2010. Mystic Compass has Mike playing in a different style highlighting his diversity and talents on the electric guitar. Mystic Compass has elements of trance, acid jazz, jazz, techno and rock music. I was pleasantly surprised by this CD because I am used to hearing Mike play the guitar in a upfront, aggressive metal style. The music on Mystic Compass has an ethereal quality to it, spiritually soothing and great for daydreaming. If you want to relax and forget about your daily toils and troubles, playing the Mystic Compass CD will do it for you. Listen, Breathe and Relax. All of these songs are melodically driven by celestial sounding guitars, jazzy lead guitar solos ebb and flow seamlessly throughout these compositions. The title track Mystic Compass has a jazzy, bluesy feel to it, the melodic guitar lines feature some great bended notes.
Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/6jUAj7qc5fY
Sydonia contains some great bell-like tones throughout the song offsetting the guitar rhythm, a speedy guitar solo highlights Mike's skillful solo guitar playing.
Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/vwMIwyx7iNs
Track 3, After The Rain is an acid jazz, bluesy composition that features some great bended, melodic guitar lines along with some more somewhat speedy solo guitar playing. Here's the YouTube link http://youtu.be/rjolyrAval8. On What Does It Take Mike demonstrates his jazz guitar playing skills. Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/rjolyrAval8
The final track Sapphire Blues has a great, somewhat dissonant sounding guitar rhythm track but Mike somehow still manages to make it sound pleasant and soothing. This song also features some great guitar slides, harmonics and some more awesome bluesy, jazzy lead guitar playing. Add some volume and distortion to all the solos on Mystic Compass and you've got yourself some great rock guitar solos.
Here's the Youtube link to Sapphire Blues
https://youtu.be/4nNaWNJEeaA
I highly recommend Mystic Compass to any fan of instrumental guitar based music.
Mystic Compass is a tour de force of some excellent, well composed instrumental guitar-based music. Mystic Compass was mixed by Kyle Wierzba and produced at Audio Magic in Buffalo NY.
Mike has posted a few brand new compositions on YouTube. Mike posted the song Into The Nebula in 7/10, Into The Nebula continues in the trance, acid jazz, meditation musical vein. Into The Nebula features some very unique, cool, buzzing, distorted guitar sounds, along with some feedback driven lead guitar lines.
Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/haoR7BKP0o4
Lost As Love, which Mike posted in 9/10, has a very melancholy feel to it, this song highlights some cool volume knob swells and a piano track that mirrors the rhythm guitar. At exactly 3:36 Mike unleashes the metal guitar sounds that I've known him for all these years, Mike rips out an excellent, distorted guitar solo on this track, the song closes with the piano track and a bell-tone at the very end. Very Cool! Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/Ly0w3q95ewA
Mike has most recently joined forces, once again, with Joe Cristofanilli of Ratt fame. Mike and Joe's debut song, The Enemy, was posted on YouTube in 12/10. The Enemy features a live action video of a blighted Buffalo landscape. This instrumental song is filled with some great musical sounds, the keys in the intro jump out of the mix, grabbing the listeners attention right away, a track that sounds like a helicopter keeps the listener interested and wondering what may come next. The Enemy starts out mellow but at 1:21 Mike lets loose with some metal chords and a killer, face melting solo. The songs continues on with a distorted, pulsing rhythm guitar and at 3:20 Joe lets loose on a sweet sounding electric bass solo. The songs closes with a jazzy wah-pedal driven guitar solo.
Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/sP_q11738j8
Mad Theater is Mike and Joe's most recent composition, this song has a distinct metal sound and feel, sounding like Judas Priest at times, the bass jumps out of the mix for a brief solo at 1:51. At about the halfway mark the song takes a twist as a bell-tone leads the listener into an acoustic guitar track. A thick, distorted guitar solo then takes over, after all that Mike once again shows his musical diversity taking a solo on the acoustic guitar which leads into another bass solo. Mad Theater closes out with the double tracked, melodic guitar line which was introduced earlier in the song.
Here's the YouTube link
https://youtu.be/Q-PpzkHnzzk
Thank You Mike!
