Review: Syrek – Story 2

(no album artist credited)

Style: Progressive rock, progressive metal, shred (mostly instrumental, some spoken word)
Recommended for fans of: The Aristocrats, Liquid Tension Experiment, Frost*, Jason Becker
Country: US – Pennsylvania
Release date: 3 October 2025

When I was but a wee lad with a big imagination, an underdeveloped frontal lobe, and hundreds upon hundreds of hours logged in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, I was utterly fascinated by music that was played fast. To me, the amount of notes in a piece of music was directly correlated with how cool it was; I devoured the shred works of Satriani, Vai, et al., and naturally Dragonforce was my favorite band in middle school. In fact, my childhood voracity for virtuosity soon led me to the works of Rush and Dream Theater, then down a rabbit hole of progressive music that would eventually lead me to my position at this very website. So when I caught wind of an album by one Terry Syrek and his eponymous band¹ offering a unique combination of blistering instrumental prog-shred with a whimsical children’s fantasy narrative, I felt it was practically made for the weird kid I once was: the kid who would conjure epic battles and fantastical journeys in his mind as guitar solos blared from a CD player in the basement. Can Story 2 call forth that wide-eyed inner child once more, or will its indulgences make me glad to have become a jaded old adult with developed taste?

Well, in terms of sheer shred capacity, Syrek & co. certainly prove their bona fides a dozen times over. While ol’ Terry might not exactly be a household name even among fans of fleet-fingered fretboard fireworks, his guitar skills have nonetheless earned a great deal of acclaim and connections from those who are, including two-thirds of the goddamn Aristocrats. Yes, Marco Minnemann and Bryan Beller are both on this record, and once again they create a rhythm section as absurdly tight and intricate as anything else from their formidable discography. On keys is one Lalle Larsson, known primarily for his work in Karmakanic and The Flower Kings. While he does add plenty of the vintage neo-prog flair one would expect from such a resume, it’s clear that he was holding himself back in those groups, as on this album he’s free to go full Rudess with more warp-speed synth wizardry than you can shake a Korg at. And just in case you were thinking Beller alone can’t provide enough “lead bass” for this monstrously overloaded shred sundae, here comes Indian bass prodigy Mohini Dey to absolutely demolish her six-string on some of the album’s heavier tracks. To say this album has some pretty skilled players on it is like saying the US Army has a “decent amount of funding”; this is an absolute nuclear arsenal of virtuosity, and it’s aimed directly at the listener’s eardrums.

So, yeah, it’s safe to say that Syrek and his band are staunch adherents of Malmsteen‘s Axiom: more is more. “Restraint” is not a word in any of these guys’ dictionaries; in fact I half suspect the word is redacted from every book they own, lest they accidentally catch a glimpse of such an alien concept and go mad from the revelation. And indeed, the album’s first couple proper tracks provide worrying signs that this entire thing will be a shameless, incoherent wank session with a stark shortage of pineapple juice. “Adventureoverature” and “Set Sail By Bottle” both begin with Terry sliding up and down a series of high-speed arpeggios that feel torn straight from an advanced technique book, to the point where I half expect the ticking of a practice room metronome to be audible in the background. While both do eventually careen into more varied passages, including some heavier riffs and charmingly cheesy synthesized orchestration, the main focus is on providing an excuse for Syrek (and, in turn, his band) to cram in as many notes as humanly possible, which, for humans as talented as these, is several metric fucktons of them. 

And yet, despite its repeated teetering on the edge of being exhausting, Story 2 eventually won me over, and that mainly stems from the fact that it is, well, a story. Sure, its simple narrative of two fluffy creatures on a quest to save a northern land from its dark king isn’t exactly going to win any prizes, but it’s an endearingly told yarn all the same, thanks largely to the talents of narrator Keith Szarabajka. Unlike the cheesy, community-theater spoken passages that plague so much of conceptual prog, his delivery is refreshingly professional, a delightfully weathered voice that exudes wry whimsy in every line. A child’s voice² also chimes in here and there, reading ahead or giving voices to the characters as though they were being read a story before bedtime, and it all comes off very cute and nostalgic.

In turn, then, the titular tale helps ground Story 2‘s staggering shred into something a bit more accessible, taking it from the sterile realm of practice rooms and technique drills into a fantastical world of adventure and peril. The ridiculously dense flurries of guitar shredding and tom fills in “Snow? Snow!” mimic the flurries of snowflakes in a blizzard, the chaotic, bludgeoning odd-meter riffs in “The Battle of Lumlin Homlet” represent the violent conflict of the gnome-like Lumlins against their oppressors, and so on. Special mention must go to “They Have a Dragon”, whose shift from intimidating, vertiginous riffage to stirring symphonic leads perfectly evokes the feeling of taming a dangerous beast, then soaring into the sky on its back. Sure, the spoken word interludes sap the album’s momentum a tad, but that’s a good thing in this case, as they give listeners a space to catch their breath amidst the onslaught of constant solos. Even the instrumentals have a couple moments of calm, such as closing power ballad “Sails and Starlight” and the genuinely lovely folk-tune atmosphere of “A New Land”. The latter is led not by Terry’s guitar, but a nyckelharpa³ from Erik Rydvall, and it’s a welcome change of texture. In fact, while Rydvall pops up a few more times throughout the album, I find myself wishing he were more present – giving him equal billing with, say, Larsson’s keys would have done a great deal to help Story 2 feel more unique among the instru-prog landscape.

To put it mildly, this is not an album for everyone. It’s a collection of some of the most unapologetically self-indulgent and hogwild instrumental performances I’ve ever heard, held together by nothing more than a simple, threadbare bedtime story, and any listeners who prefer their prog “restrained” or “tasteful” should run screaming to the hills. But if you’re not too stuck-up for a bit of whimsy, if that childlike imagination to conjure sweeping vistas and climactic clashes out of a guitar solo still lingers somewhere within your mind, then I highly recommend getting swept away in this grandiose, talent-laden thrill ride. Hell, play it for the kids in your life – if they’re anything like I was at that age, they’ll get a kick out of it. Just don’t be surprised if they grow up to be insufferable prog writers later down the line.

Recommended tracks: “Snow? Snow!”, “The Battle of Lumlin Homlet”, “They Have a Dragon”, “A New Land”
You may also like: Bumblefoot, Azure, Coevality
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Syrek is:
– Terry Syrek (guitars)
With guests:
– Lalle Larsson (keyboards, orchestration)
– Marco Minnemann (drums)
– Bryan Beller (bass on tracks 2, 4, 6, 10, 12, and 14)
– Mohini Dey (bass on tracks 7, 8, and 13)
– Erik Rydvall (nyckelharpa)
– Keith Szarabajka (narration)

1. It’s unclear if there is a band called Syrek or if this is just Terry’s solo project; most of the same musicians from the first Story album also appear here, and the Facebook page calls it “the band Syrek“, but Terry composed everything, and most other sources seem to refer to it as his album. ↩︎
2. Uncredited, though I would guess the voice is that of Syrek’s son Luke, to whom the album is dedicated. ↩︎
3. Swedish folk instrument that’s basically a cross between a violin and a hurdy-gurdy, for those curious. ↩︎