Chris Poland - Return to Metalopolis

A guitarist’s tone is in his fingers; this is especially true for Chris Poland. He’s played in a wide variety of settings, but I can always identify him within seconds. Few musicians have such a distinctive voice, or have brought such joy to my life. This is the first of a two-part tribute to Poland’s six-string genius.

Poland is best known as the lead guitarist on Megadeth’s first two albums, Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? (The first three Megadeth albums have ellipses in their titles…what’s up with that?) He and drummer Gar Samuelson played in a fusion band called The New Yorkers before they joined Megadeth. His predecessor, incidentally, was none other than Kerry King. Poland’s responsible for one of my favorite guitar licks of all time, the bends about 2:02 into “Peace Sells.”

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When Poland was a teenager, someone slammed a glass door on his hand, causing serious injury. To this day, he can’t bend his left pinky nor the last joint on his index finger. This forced him to adopt a unique playing style with wide intervallic leaps and idiosyncratic note choices. These traits, combined with a smooth, overdriven tone, comprise his sound. You can see that left hand in action in this present-day video of him warming up.

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Poland was kicked out of Megadeth for heroin addiction, which was ironic considering the whole band was strung out. He cleaned up and toured with the Circle Jerks (!) as a bass player before releasing his first solo album, Return to Metalopolis, a mix of thrash and jazz fusion. The late-’80s and early-’90s was the heyday of instrumental guitar albums, but this one is by far my favorite from that time.

One reason why this album is so enjoyable is that it has actual songs. They go through intros, transitions, and bridges, with catchy riffs and concise lengths. Poland mixes up fast and slow feels and layers acoustic guitars and eerie clean tones that add harmonic depth. His brother Mark’s drumming is tasteful and complementary.

In these clips, you’ll hear some Megadeth-style rhythm playing, especially in the ascending and descending runs that connect riffs. “The Fall of Babylon” lands on a gorgeous Lydian chord 2/3 of the way in before the acoustic guitar returns. “Row of Crows” takes flight, so to speak, a minute before its end with some sweet blues licks.

The Fall of Babylon
Row of Crows

This album’s original release had rather thin production. Since then, it’s been remixed and remastered with much better sound, with reissues by Lion and Blacknote/Rotten. The reissues feature two bonus tracks of Poland with his current fusion band, OHM:. The cuts don’t really fit with the rest of the album, but they sound great and offer a taste of what Poland’s doing now. You can find this gem

@ Amazon
@ eMusic
@ Amie St.