Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteen, Zakk Wylde, Nuno Bettencourt, and Tosin Abasi, collectively Generation Axe, released The Guitars That Destroyed The World (Live In China) via earMUSIC / Edel on June 28th. Vai has posted a snippet of "Foreplay" from the recording, which can be heard below.

Vai recently spoke with Total Guitar Magazine about the tour and the Generation Axe tour and the release. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

TGM: For many fans, hearing you and Yngwie Malmsteen pair up for "Black Star" feels like history in the making...

Vai: “This was something I’d been dying to do for decades and I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. It was one of my highlights from each night. Yngwie is a very accomplished and supreme musician. He has incredible ears and I don’t know if he’s shared his ear with another guitar player in the past like he did on this. We’ve been very close for many years, friends for like 30 years. We’ve always respected each other. When we did the G3 tour, we bonded more and became buddies - that’s when we became really good friends. That’s important, because it allows the vulnerability of opening yourself up in your playing.

When I listen back to that recording of 'Black Star', I marvel at how we’re playing off each other and every sentence is spoken together. It’s quite remarkable. I was thinking maybe this is just me thinking this because I’m involved and hear it as metal poetry… but it sounds like a lot of other people get it, too.”

TGM: The way you play off each other near the end, bringing the dynamics right down, is incredibly light and delicate...

Vai: “That delicate part of 'Black Star' requires two people to be connected in a musically intimate way. There’s vulnerability and opening that allows the space for each of us to contribute. It’s like having a great conversation with somebody. That’s how you get the good stuff! There’s no reason to compete in his mind. There’s no threat, and I think that’s necessary in order to go into the deeper realms of listening and responding. Nobody does what he does and that’s a beautiful place to be. That’s the way I feel in my mind and that’s the way everybody should feel... nobody can do you better.”

Read the complete interview here.

Generation Axe first staged a North American tour in April - May, 2016, and then travelled to Asia in April, 2017. They returned to the road this past November and December, 2018 for an extensive 32-date tour of North America.

When asked which song performed captures the true essence of Generation Axe, Steve Vai shares, “For me, I might say that our arrangement and performance of 'Highway Star' captures a good essence of what Gen-Axe is about. In this song we all came together and worked out a spectacular five guitar arrangement of this classic masterpiece, with an interplay of harmonies that is uniquely structured and potent. There are shifting solo sections tailor made for each guitarist, and a deep respect to the structure of wicked fast harmonies engineered around Richie Blackmore’s historic solo. And then there’s Yngwie’s powerful vocal performances on this track too. It has a high degree of rock and roll energy in it.”

Tracklisting:

Generation Axe - "Foreplay"
Tosin Abasi - "Tempting Time"
Tosin Abasi and Nuno Bettencourt - "Physical Education"
Nuno Bettencourt - "A Side Of Mash"
Nuno Bettencourt and Zakk Wylde - "Sideways"
Zakk Wylde - "Whipping Post"
Steve Vai - "Bad Horsie"
Yngwie Malmsteen - "Valhalla" / "Baroque n Roll" / "Overture" / "From A Thousand Cuts" / "Arpeggios From Hell" / "Far Beyond The Sun"
Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai - "Black Star"
Steve Vai / Zakk Wylde / Nuno Bettencourt / Tosin Abasi - "Frankenstein"
Generation Axe - "Highway Star"

"Sideways":

"Frankenstein":