Attention all would-be melodic death metal guitar heroes: Have you ever wanted to test your skill level against the best? How do you think you’d hold up? Think you’re good enough to jam alongside Niclas Engelin (ex-In Flames, The Halo Effect). Well, Nik Nocturnal—a solo metal artist from Toronto, ON and YouTuber did recently, and the video above offers a tiered, multi-level skill scale, that goes something like this:
- Level 1 – Avoid Only Hitting OO’s
- Level 2 – Angry Octaves
- Level 3 – Open String Lead
- Level 4 – Lead Harmonies
- Level 5 – Don’t Forget the Synth
- Level 6 – Octave Harmonies & Riffs
- Level 8 – 7-9-10…
- Level 9 – Harmonic Minor
- Level 10 – Tremolo Picking
Naturally, there’s a bonus level, Level 11: Epic Solo Time (duh!) You can watch more of Nocturnal’s videos here, where he creates a wide range of content including reviews, covers, meme content, and his own original metal music.
As for The Halo Effect, they'll release their debut album Days Of The Lost on August 12. Pre-orders are available here. For those unaware, The Halo Effect is entirely ex-In Flames members. They are guitarists Jesper Strömblad and Niclas Engelin, bassist Peter Iwers, drummer Daniel Svensson, and vocalist Mikael Stanne, who was In Flames' live vocalist in 1994 and performed on both Lunar Strain and Subterranean.
