With their latest album Chapter II – Legacy, Swiss four-piece Ad Infinitum hit a grand slam symphonic metal home run.
The LP sees vocalist Melissa Bonny, guitarist Adrian Thessenvitz, bassist Korbinian Benedict and drummer Niklas Müller work together to create one of the genre's best offerings of the year to date, weaving both beautifully melodic and super-heavy guitar lines with stunning vocal hooks and massive-sounding arrangements.
One of the album's highlights, Inferno, plays host to some of Thessenvitz's best guitar work yet, as he seamlessly blends stunning arpeggiated acoustic guitar with intricate drop-tuned riff and solo work and even some vocal-esque slide guitar lines. And he puts it all on display in this exclusive new playthrough for Guitar World.
Gear-wise, he wields a custom Lakewood baritone acoustic for the intro, before switching to a headless Strandberg Sarah Longfield 8-string guitar, running through a Kemper amp modeler with a Mesa/Boogie Mark V profile.
“Writing the guitar arrangement for Inferno was very special,” Thessenvitz says. “It was a lot of fun to see the acoustic guitars, clean guitars, the slide guitar melodies and djent riffs working together so well.
“That's what I love about Ad Infinitum's second album in general: We combined all our strengths, the sounds we like and our favorite genres. And this song is, from a guitarist's point of view, the most versatile and most interesting tune.”
- Ad Infinitum's latest album Chapter II – Legacy is out now via Napalm Records.
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