“One of the reasons why this record is special to me is because Tony MacAlpine was my first pro gig. But I was already a big fan, and this is the album that did it for me.

“It’s an important bridge record between fusion and metal. It hadn’t been done too much before then, and it hadn’t been done in quite this way. Steve Smith is the drummer here. He was mostly known for being in Journey at the time. He had his fusion group, Vital Information, but they hadn’t made a big dent in the market yet, not until they did the album Global Beat – that’s an important record, too.

“This record has a lot of hallmarks of metal music, but there’s an improvisational element, too. There’s double bass patterns that are pretty set, but you can tell there’s a lot of interplay and people going off. Billy Sheehan was the perfect bassist to play with Steve Smith here.

"This record was the springboard for a lot that came after it. Tony’s had a lot of great drummers play with him over the years, and so I was honored to work with him when I did.”