Local musos and instrument geeks are well aware that during this past week, China’s population of guitar and bass nerds, piano aficionados and wannabe Neil Pert drummers all converged at Shanghai’s Music China 2011 instrument expo, but what they may have missed was a free night of virtuoso guitar shredding at Mao Livehouse, featuring Jeff Loomis of Nevermore fame, 纪元 and uber-cheezy axe slinger 小林信一.

No need to dissect my disdain and contempt for the solo-virtuoso genre, the concept of one guy shredding on stage over a backing track, playing rockstar speaks volumes in itself, but 小林信一 took the whole concept to the next level; the guy is basically a caricature of everything that is wrong with guitar music.

Is he a sick technical player? For sure. Does he have a soul? Absolutely not.

Honestly, you couldn’t script this guy any better, from his cargo shorts-over-black-tights getup, to his straight-up masturbatory guitar wankery. He’s a living, breathing cartoon of a player, and if the guys from Deathklok ever got a hold of him, they’d probably strap him to a gurney and blow his brains out with heavier-than-though grindcore.

But I digress . . .

True local metal fans should be pumped, because tonight (and tomorrow), some of China’s top thrash and death metal bands unite at Mao Livehouse for the 2011 Asia Metal Festival.

Local boys Fearless and Screaming Christ lead the charge of some 20-plus bands over two days, so get off your keyster and flash them devil horns.

Metal up your ass!

Watch 小林信一 jerk off on his guitar (VPN required for China IP users)