For those unaware, for the first time ever, the Impellitteri catalog has been made available worldwide!

A legendary guitarist around the world, Chris Impellitteri is well known for his technical skill, as well as being an extremely melodic and proficient songwriter.

Despite being a full American metal outfit, the Impellitteri catalog has been hard to pin down for western fans, with many fans having to buy expensive import copies direct from Japan, where Chris enjoys a huge following.

But this has now changed with Global Rock officially licensing the full catalog between the years 1987 and 2010.

In celebration of this occasion, Global Rock are releasing Wake The Beast: The Impellitteri Anthology, a 3CD set that encompasses the Impellitteri story from 1987-2010.

Every song here selected by Chris himself as to what he feels are the highlights from some 12 different releases. Whether it’s fan favorite Rob Rock on vocals or the legendary Graham Bonnet behind the mic, one thing can be sure, the intensity never let’s up!

This is the first ever Impellitteri career spanning compilation released worldwide, featuring not only the well known album tracks, but rare Japan released only bonus songs, B-sides and more!

Disc 1:
1. Victim of the System
2. Perfect Crime
3. Power of Love
4. When the Well Runs Dry
5. 17th Century Chicken Pickin’
6. Spanish Fire
7. Rat Race
8. Lost in the Rain
9. Father Forgive Them
10. Hungry Days
11. Eye of the Hurricane

Disc 2:
1. Texas Nuclear
2. Speed Demon
3. On and on
4. Stand in Line
5. Secret Lover
6. Fly Away
7. Warrior
8. Hold the Line
9. The Young and the Ruthless
10. Ball and Chain
11. Wake Up Sally

Disc 3:
1. Wake Me Up
2. Falling in Love with a Stranger
3. Rock & Roll Heroes
4. Anti-Social Disease
5. Burning
6. Freakshow
7. Wicked Maiden
8. Garden of Eden
9. Propaganda Mind
10. Stand or Fall
11. I’ll Be with You

In what was always a band - formed by high-speed neo-classical guitarist Chris Impelliteri - whose core styling was highly reminiscent of Yngwie Malmsteen, Impelliteri not only produced a self-financed album of instrumentals in 1986 and formed his own band in 1987, but at their collective best, man, did they strongly evoke a certain Rainbow style too!

Probably down to the fact that cult hero, and supreme screamer Graham Bonnet (Rainbow, MSG, and Alcatrazz) was on lead vocals, sure, but overall, and with Impelliteri churning band members in and out like it was a game show, no matter what happened, musically the group made music that just f**in’ rocked!

Chris Impellitteri formed Impellitteri together with vocalist Rob Rock in Los Angeles where they first released an EP entitled Impellitteri in 1987. The EP features heavy metal with classically influenced shredding guitar solos, screaming vocals, speed metal drumming and aggressive bass!

It contained songs like Lost in the Rain and Burning, which quickly gained the attention of heavy metal fans and musicians around the world. In fact, during the release of the EP, many major media outlets began to cover Impellitteri, including Kerrang!, Guitar World, Circus, and Burrn!

After the release of the EP, Impellitteri regrouped, this time with British vocalist Graham Bonnet as lead singer, and released an album titled Stand in Line in 1988. MTV played Impellitteri’s music video for Stand in Line in heavy rotation, and Chris Impellitteri was a guest host on MTV’s Headbangers Ball.

Fans voted Impellitteri a Smash on MTV’s Smash or Trash show and the album charted in Billboards Top 100 and remained there for over five months. To date, the song Stand in Line has become a fan favorite globally.

After touring in support of the Impellitteri EP and Stand in Line, the band returned to the studio and reunited with original vocalist Rob Rock. They quickly recorded and released another EP titled Victim of the System (1993), which was produced by Mike Tacci, who was the assistant engineer on Metallica’s Black Album (1991).

Victim of the System was highly influenced by the band Queen and following that they released Answer to the Master in late 1994. It was also another album that produced many new fan favorite songs, like Warrior, Fly Away, and the title track itself, Answer to the Master.

In 1996, Impellitteri released Screaming Symphony with Chris Impellitteri winning the Burrn! magazine Readers Poll Award for Best Rock Guitarist. The record was mixed by Michael Wagener, who had also produced Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne.

Screaming Symphony featured songs such as Rat Race and 17th Century Chicken Pickin’, which are played frequently during live concerts. In 2000, Impellitteri released the album Crunch. Crunch was the first record where the band started to occasionally use drop tunings in combination with their brand of shred metal.

This album featured songs such as Beware of the Devil, Slay the Dragon, and Speed Demon and in addition, the band recorded a ballad entitled Forever Yours.

Shortly after Crunch, Rob Rock decided to pursue a solo career and so Impellitteri again recruited Graham Bonnet and began working on their next album entitled System X, released in 2002. That year they also released a compilation of hits called The Very Best of Impellitteri: Faster Than the Speed of Light (2002).

In May 2008, it was announced that Rob Rock was, once again, back with Impellitteri. They collaborated on a new album called Wicked Maiden (2009), which was released in Japan and Europe on February 24th, 2009, with the intent of releasing the new album in the United States in 2011, followed by the Impellitteri Shredfest tour.

Now, for the first time ever, the band’s career spanning music is available on Wake The Beast!

Stand In Line - Impellitteri [Official Music Video]

Answer To The Master - Impellitteri [Official Music Video]

Official Website

Impellitteri @ Instagram

Impellitteri @ Facebook