You Need To Hear The Guitar Solo On The New EXTREME Single

EXTREME are releasing their new album, Six on 9 June, but before the record comes out, the band have offered a teaser in the first single, Rise, and my goodness, it’s insane.

Six is the band’s first album since 2008’s Saudades de Rock (which roughly translates to “nostalgic yearnings of rock” in Portuguese) and if Rise is anything to go by, fans will be hearing punchy rock tunes with epic guitar solos.

About that headline (and guitar solo), does anyone know what on Earth Nuno Bettencourt was doing on the guitar?

Before that solo begins, Rise resembles your typical rock song: it’s easy enough to follow, it’s catchy, and you can hear it playing on the radio until Bettencourt turns it up to eleven.

He pulls from his idol, Eddie Van Halen, and there’s a bit of Yngwie Malmsteen in there, too. Classical-sounding melodies combined with thrash metal in 2023? Sure, why not?

“Musically, it’s aggressive,” vocalist Gary Cherone shared in a statement. “Lyrically, it’s a cautionary tale on the rise and fall of fame. You get seduced into it. Once you’re on top, they’ll rip you apart and tear you down. That’s the nature of the beast.”

He added, “With EXTREME, there’s always a lot of passion and a little piss and vinegar. We’re not in competition with anybody else, but we strive to outdo ourselves. There are some moments on this album where we did. We’ve managed to stay together after all these years. We feel like we have something to prove when we get on stage or in the studio. Because of that, I believe some of these songs are among the best we’ve written.”

Bettencourt commented, “When Eddie Van Halen passed, it really hit me. I’m not going to be the one who will take the throne, but I felt some responsibility to keep guitar playing alive. So, you hear a lot of fire on the record.”

The guitar player, who is also Rihanna’s touring guitarist and played on her albums, Talk That Talk (2011) and Anti (2016), concluded, “Whatever you think an EXTREME album is after two or even three songs, it’s not. That goes for every record we’ve ever done. True EXTREME fans know to ‘expect the unexpected.’ 

“I feel like we need a good old-school rock album. SIX is definitely modern, but you can put on headphones and go on a journey from top-to-bottom. It’s like ‘EXTREME 2.0’.” Pre-order Six here and check out Rise below.