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Shredder Lawrence Wallace has put out several recordings in the past few years. His EP Life Force contains four songs of classic heavy metal shred that should please fans of those '80s Shrapnel Records releases from Friedman and Becker as well as players from outside that stable such as Satriani and MacAlpine. Wallace's playing is a good blend of the technicality fans who are guitarists themselves can really dig into, and the melodic song structures those of us who aren't players can enjoy. His songwriting isn't as overtly classically influenced as say Malmsteen, but obviously a lot of the arpeggios and phrasing have some of their roots in that music. "Event Horizon" features the kind of rapid runs up and down the fretboard that reminded me of Tony MacAlpine where "Entanglement" has a Joe Satriani groove to it. It's a short EP, so if you aren't a guitarist, it doesn't really have time to wear out its welcome and, while Wallace is undoubtedly flashy, he doesn't try to beat you over the head with his skills, these are actual songs. Guitarists might find it too short to really sink their teeth into it but I'm sure mileage will vary. Life Force isn't revolutionary, but if you need a little shred in your mix and don't want to delve into any entire album, it will punch that ticket.