Randy Rhoads was one of the first American neo-classical rock guitar stylists and Diary is just another great track by him. In fact, I love the line-up for this album. As great as Zakk is, I would opt for Randy any day of the week. Yeah, no need to say it again, but I will...it's my love of the neo-classical rock guys. Randy is just so clean at the beginning and he slips effortlessly into the song's main riff. Exquisite.

Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth really blew me away. Very very nice guitar work and against another performer may have gotten the nod from me, but I think Randy does more with his talents in a shorter time than Akerfeldt, who does some very nice things, but does it over the course of almost 10 minutes.

Pretty well exactly what he said.Randy Rhoads

The first couple of minutes by Opeth are just ruined by the gurgling crap, but he starts singing (quite nicely) after that, and the vocals no longer distract from the brillant guitar work. I had never heard of Opeth before Guitar Wars, but am beginning to be extremely impressed by the entire thing. Listening to Ozzy since 1970, but have to vote for the guitars in Bleak by Mikael Akerfeldt/Opeth.

This is another matchup where I had to go with at least 2 listens to both.

Diary of a Madman (and that's "Madman" guru, not "Mad Man"): I really like the acoustic guitar intro, then Randy's signature sound, the verse/chorus is average, the first guitar solo is pretty good (but not Randy's best work), then there's the interlude that has a nice sound and some strings, then back to the main riff, another solo that's pretty good, the the verse/chorus again, on to the outro chanting...and that's a wrap!

Bleak: Opeth surprises me because I didn't expect a keyboardist, and they look like Nickelback rejects - not at all what I expected. A pretty good intro section (nice groove), the verse has a simple guitar (I like the bass, though), the bridge is still just ok stuff, back to the groove, back to the verse (listen to that bass carry the song!), nice little breakdown, the singer used some chloraseptic (and the bass is still carrying this song, just sayin'), a change of pace (and again the focus is on the bass), a nice little solo and then back to the singing, all right - NOW we're rocking!...and now we're not..., some more notes, some more singing, a little bit of something different, getting more forceful here at the end, and now it's over.

The bassist in Opeth CLEARLY won this round. It isn't even close.

HOWEVA...I have to vote for a guitarist. I really, really like both of these songs. Diary of a Madman is a classic, and that Opeth bassist makes me want to go listen to more of their work. Surprisingly, under inspection, both guitarists underwhelmed me. Perhaps because I've been hearing SO MUCH good guitar in the last few weeks, and my expectations were too high. Yet, these are examples of how really good songs don't necessarily need really good guitar. Final analysis, I'm going solo vs solo, and I'm taking

RANDY RHOADS - DIARY OF A MADMAN

Thank you for your time.

Very true!!

Diary of a Madman for me, enjoyed both songs more than I thought I would though.

I got it correct when I wrote the matchup on the bottom of the page Y'know, sometimes I should do this AFTER I finish my coffee and not during. Anyway, I fixed it.

Bob Daisley, Ozzy's bassist got thrown under the bus because of Ozzy's missus, Sharon. She may seem nice, and to give credit where credit is due, she helped the Oz-man jump-start his career back up - BUT SHE'S A HARPIE. Daisley's a pretty good bassist, but he really shines as a songwriter.

yeah, daisley got douched over, kinda the story of his life.

sharon should also get props for keepin ozzy ALIVE all these years.

she's apparently a c-word, got some #### started with Maiden at on of the ozzfests.

I'd hit it though...

don't judge me. man...

I remember that #### she started with Maiden. It wasn't cool and Dickinson had every right to diss her.

Who am I to talk? At my age I'd hit a tree if the knot hole was low enough and there was some moss around it. Ready, Sox, Fate, c'mon guys, back me up here

Bob Daisley bass lines are some of the first ones I ever learned. He'll always have a place in my heart. And I agree, Sharon is good for Ozzy, but bad for anyone in their way. So from their point of view, that's probably a very good thing. From my point of view, she's a douche.

Nope, nope, can't say I'd move on some knotholes. I would still make a move on Adrienne Barbeau even at her present age though.

Osbourne's ol' lady is safe from me though.