American guitarist, Glen Alvelais, best known for playing in legendary Bay Area thrash metal bands, Forbidden and Testament, has released his debut solo album, “Peace in Chaos”. The album was the result of a creative challenge he issued to himself: write 30 new songs in 30 days. He ended up with 20 songs, 10 made the cut, and “Peace in Chaos” was born. The instrumental album is ambitious and shows Glen’s versatility and his innate ability to blend heavy and groove. His heartfelt style, phrasing, and tone evokes feelings that you never knew you had. Glen takes you back to places that you’ve been, and to places you’ve never imagined.
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Hayward, Glen was exposed to guitar and jazz and rock music at an early age by his father. Mike Alvelais was a professional musician, who also worked for notable artists, like Ron Thompson and Randy Hansen. He shared his passion for guitar with his young son by teaching Glen how to play and exposing him to a wide range of artists, including Al DiMeola, Jeff Beck, and Frank Marino. Glen wrote “Daddy Mike”, an apt tribute to his father. Glen was fortunate to be able to show his dad the video for “Daddy Mike” two weeks before he passed away from cancer in 2020.
Glen’s introduction to the Bay Area thrash metal scene started when he moved to another Bay Area suburb, Fremont, where he met fellow student and guitarist, Craig Locicero (Dress the Dead, The Boneless Ones, Forbidden) in high school. In a short time they would become bandmates in “Forbidden”. Glen was brought in to replace Robb Flynn (Machine Head, Vio-lence), who had left to join Vio-lence. Along with Russ Anderson on vocals, Matt Camacho on bass, and Paul Bostaph (Slayer), they would record and release their debut studio album, “Forbidden Evil” on Combat Records in 1988, in addition to the Forbidden Evil – March into Fire demo in 1987, and Forbidden – “Raw Evil – Live at the Dynamo” in 1989.
After Forbidden, he joined Testament in 1992 at the behest of Alex Skolnick. Alex was leaving Testament and thought that Glen would be a good fit for the band. He toured with the band on “The Ritual” tour and appeared on Testament’s live EP, “Return to the Apocalyptic City”. Since Testament Glen has managed to keep bands like LD/50, Bizarro and HateFX still going to this day. Over the years, Glen has played in and collaborated/recorded with numerous bands, including: Tenet, War Curse, Mosh-Pit Justice, Earth Crawler, and Klank, all while honing in and writing new music.
The master plan now is to expose as many people to his latest solo music via digital music and live shows. With the help from Jake Gentile on drums and Terry Goss on bass the group is sure to turn some heads in the scene in both the Metal and Jazz/Rock. The next batch of songs is ready to be recorded starting this fall but first things first, Live Shows!