It's a hot-button topic within the guitar community: What's the greatest shred album?
It spurns wild and vicious debates on the subjectivity of music, the volatile balance between technical prowess and popularity and the value of the genre itself.
In an effort to quell the discord -- or at least shine light upon it -- Guitar World ran a story about the 30 Greatest Shred Albums of All Time, which you can find right here.
The list included an array of records by various artists from various genres and eras. The commonality was that the albums featured speedy guitar work -- and the artists used their fleet-fingered abilities to make bold statements.
These albums, however, were not ranked in any particular order. So we asked the Guitar World faithful to vote for their favorite shred records from the list we provided.
We tallied up the results and here, below, are your 10 best shred albums of all time. Remember, this is the result of a reader poll.
Enjoy!
“The experience of our work with Jimmy in a vibrant, electric, mystical, and powerful perspective”: Unreleased Jimmy Page/Rich Robinson composition set to feature in upcoming deluxe version of Jimmy Page & the Black Crowes: Live at the Greek
“The king of modern blues getting down and dirty (musically) with a former Van Halen singer”: January 2025 Guitar World Editors’ Picks
