Nearly four years after his critically acclaimed debut “Story,” Pittsburgh-based guitarist Terry Syrek returns with “Story 2,” a breathtaking instrumental odyssey blending Progressive Rock and Metal. Featuring world-class musicians such as Marco Minnemann, Bryan Beller, Mohini Dey, Lalle Larsson, and Erik Rydvall, the album delivers both technical brilliance and emotional depth. With a rich narrative, narrated by Hollywood voice actor Keith Szarabajka, “Story 2” invites listeners on an epic snowy adventure into the frozen north. Progressive Rock Journal caught up with Terry to explore his creative vision, compositional process, and the making of this remarkable follow-up.
What inspired you to create “Story 2,” and how did your vision differ from the first album?
Early after its release, we got a lot of great response from the original Story album, and I felt a lot of positive energy around it. It really inspired me to want to do another one. To continue the story. Almost at the same moment I had that thought, the entire new story just came to me. Like an avalanche. Alot of times, I will even do the album cover, once I’ve got the general vibe of what I’m going to be working in. And so, in this case, I think I finished that, even before I wrote a note. Then, I imagined where these characters would go and what they would do. My vision was really the same, as the original ‘Story,’ but felt a bit more detailed, this time. Musically, the vision was very much more specific, because I knew who the band would be, and I had the entire story in my head, to start.
How did your compositional approach change from “Story” to “Story 2”?
So, as I said above, I knew who the band would be on Story 2. This made me think in larger terms, in every way. The Story was bigger, the music is more epic and symphonic and I really tried to push everyone (including myself) to their limits and past, playing-wise.
The album features some extraordinary musicians. How did you select your collaborators?
When I was working on the original Story, I imagined who would/ could play the music. I put together a sort of ‘dream lineup’ together in my head. I’ve been really connected to (some great) drummers, and it seems that every time I put a band together, it’s always a drummer and me in a room together, first, for a period of time. So, I started there. One of my favorite players has been Marco, and as the spirit of the music began to present itself to me, he came immediately to mind. The way that he plays, his language on the kit, just really seemed to synergize with what I was writing. I really couldn’t imagine anyone else. Then it occurred to me that he plays with Bryan in a band. Bryan and I have known each other since the 90s at Berklee. We were always in the same circles and even did the same shows together, but never actually got a chance to play together. I’ve always thought he was a fantastic bassist, and very familiar with the rhythmic challenges that the Story album would present. So, it seemed like a natural choice. And, at the time, most of the songs were a sort of “Rush” model; meaning, they were arranged as a 3 piece prog rock band with some additional synths. Not very orchestrated with strings and all that. I reached out to Lalle, as I’ve always meant to do something with him, and I figured now was the time. He and I have known each other for decades, but as with Bryan, we never got a chance to do anything together. Initially, I just wanted him to do a solo or two. Once he got a hold of the music, though, he got really into it and decided to completely re orchestrate everything on the album to have all kinds of additional synths and strings, haha. And it was really fantastic. Florian, the violinist on a track, was totally a really serendipitous thing. I wanted an authentic gypsy violinist for the track ‘The Perilous Flight From Castle Abathria”, and a good friend of mine, Nico Moulard (who really inspired me and helped me so much throughout both of these Story albums), reached out to a few players he had found through the internet. After talking to Florian, he seemed like the real deal, although I never heard him play until he sent the track for the album! But when I heard him, I was totally blown away. He was exactly the guy I needed. Really hope do do something more in the future with him.
Did you write specific parts with individual musicians in mind?
Not for the original ‘Story,’ but yes for ‘Story 2.’ As I said, I knew who the band was going to be during writing, so I really thought about things like ‘ok, Lalle will sound great over these changes”, or “this will be the perfect vibe for Bryan” or I’ll leaves some space on this track so Marco can go nuts… things like that. Working with people, you learn where their wheelhouse is and what their limitations are, as well.
Marco Minnemann, Bryan Beller, Mohini Dey — how did their unique styles influence the final arrangements?
Well, I think everyone is so good, and what starts to happen as you get that good is that you develop a unique voice on the instrument. So, though these songs are all my own, and there are definitely a lot of composed specific parts, I really encourage everyone to just do their thing. I make very detailed demos, because I have to convey what the song is. These are all really detailed and complicated tunes. But I don’t want anyone to play exactly what I program for drums or bass, for example. This time, I really encouraged Bryan, for instance, to play the part that’s written, of course, but just make stuff up that he thought sounded cool, haha. These guys are very free to do what they want. And I feel like these albums occupy a weird space in that, yeah, I hire these guys to play, but I think everyone became so into the music and adding their own voice to it that the music took on a life of its own; this is really more of a band effort where we all put our own thing into the mix and what we create is a team effort for sure. Having Lalle take my basic orchestrations and completely re do things, for instance, took the albums into a completely different direction. There were some times on Story 2, for example, where I’d have a solo section for him to play over and he’d completely reharm the backing part, haha. I heard it back for the first time and it just kinda hit me in the face, so I had to laugh at the unexpectedness of it. On the original Story, there was a track that was just synths and clean guitar, “What The Owl Said”, and I gave it to Mohini and just said.. do whatever you think. Originally it was a sort of mellow Pink Floyd kinda thing, mainly just textures and such. When I got it back, it sounded like some crazy Shakti piece or something, haha, It was great.
Lalle Larsson returns on keyboards. How did having him back shape the Symphonic aspects of the album?
Oh yeah, totally. As I said, when we did the original Story, he really took the arrangements and added all kinds of keys and synths that weren’t there, turning it into something totally different than I had anticipated. When I wrote Story 2, I orchestrated the synths and keys, myself.. even choirs for some songs. I wanted to give Lalle a more detailed version, this time, as I knew what he would do. But he took even this and re did it and really added his own stuff. I mean, keyboardists are usually naturally a lot better at symphonic orchestration than a guitarist, haha, because of the nature of the instruments. Plus, lalle is way more ensconced in the jazz world than I am. So, alot of things come back with really bold harmonic changes and ideas and then also, to the other end, many little subtle details than pull the ingredients together a lot more. His contribution is really enormous to these albums. And to my earlier point, this is the sort of thing that makes the Story albums a band oriented thing, instead of a guitar guy solo thing. It’s very far from that, in my opinion, because Lalle (and everyone else) contribute so much of themselves, and I really encourage it. I guess in a typical ‘session’ album, guys come in and play the parts or charts, get paid and call it a day. For the Story stuff… everyone participates and does their own thing to the songs.
Erik Rydvall’s nyckelharpa adds a distinct atmosphere. How did you incorporate it into your sound?
Well, I kinda fell in love with the Nyckelharpa a bunch of years back, when I heard it for the first time. So, I kept it in the back of my mind that I would write something for it, some day. I’ve done albums in the past with tabla and such, and Florian on gypsy violin on Story and all that, so I’ve always loved bringing in other let’s say non-metal oriented instruments into a metal environment. (Although, I don’t know if I’d call these albums straight up metal, haha). But when I got the idea for the story of Story 2, it was all about the frozen north and so, I thought… “man, if ever there were a time to incorporate Nycckleharpa…” . And I had alot of things were I wanted him to double crazy parts that I would do , or the band would do, because I don’t know if that’s really ever been done before. Plus it sounded cool! But he’s such a great player, I wanted to feature him a lot more than just that. So I composed the intros and outros and just had him create and improv. And that sounded so great, I decided to write a track for him. Mainly it’s just Erik doing his thing and being amazing, but I produced it and arransed some minimal things to support it. I tend to assign the characters of the story to some of the musicians in the band, haha, so like… Lalle is the little animal demon creature, for instance. Erik (and the nyckelharpa being the sonic representation) is the Stag. So, story-wise, it made sense to give the Stag his own song, since he’s such an important character. And so we have Erik doing “A New Land”.
The story and music are tightly interwoven. Can you describe your process for aligning the narrative with the compositions?
Well, I look at it as an almost 3 point thing; the 3 points being the story, the music and the art. Each one of these, increasingly so over the years, become almost equally important and helpful to each other. So, sometimes I write some music and then it makes me think about what’s next in the story, for example. Or, sometimes, like in the case of the cover of the album… I made that before I actually wrote anything musically. I had the idea for the story and I found it really helpful to actually see the main characters. That inspired a lot of music, because I thought “well, here they are.. now what do they do?”.
What role did Keith Szarabajka’s narration play in bringing the story to life?
I heard Keith a while back in a video game I played. And I realized, subsequently, how many other things I had heard him in or seen him in. He’s a legend. His voice really drew me in. It had the perfect blend of intensity and whimsy. I thought he was the perfect guy to narrate this stuff. So, as the narrator, he really sets the tone of the whole thing. He’s kind of the first thing you really hear, on both albums. I think he just has such an amazing voice and presence, it makes you want to engage with what he’s saying.
How did you approach balancing technical mastery with emotional storytelling?
The albums are obviously pretty intense, technically. I’ve always gotten a lot of joy expressing myself that way. But, despite that being the elephant in the room, so to speak, or the first thing a lot of people grab on to… I’m really more interested in the whole picture. I want drama and dynamics and emotional ups and downs, both in the music and in the story. It’s all about how everything comes together, compositionally, and just happens to be filtered through a bit of a technical-oriented approach, at times. But it all has to say something and move me, at least, in some way. I really think when people get past the obvious chops stuff, they’ll see that, too, if they haven’t already.
Were there any particularly challenging moments during the recording or composition process?
Every step of the way, haha. EVERYTHING was a challenge. Playing is a challenge for me; I have something called focal dystonia, where my hand doesn’t work very well in a lot of instances. I pushed myself on the compositions, as well. I didn’t just write things and settle when they were ok enough. And I had to tie the story and music together and make it work. Then there is producing all the other musicians, which can be daunting. And they all have busy tour schedules and that makes it difficult to put together. But on top of that, sometimes I have to go back and say “hey, this needs something else here…”, and that is really difficult to pull together with 5 other people via email and phone calls. It’s a very slow and tedious process. Then we come to the mix and master. Same thing… I have to constantly go back and forth. For most of my early life, I would be in the same room with musicians tracking, and a mix engineer, mixing, and could just physically move faders or EQs, myself. Then, when it’s all put together comes the PR and marketing and trying to get people to hear this wacky stuff. I guess larger bands have people for every step of this, but for me.. it’s only me, and I have to be very clear on what I need and want, and do most of it, myself. I’m usually not that guy, so it makes it tough even from just a personality standpoint. Although, I will also note that I’ve had a lot of help getting this stuff out there from my friends Nico Moulard and Matt Williams. Those guys have made that stage of things a lot easier though their kindness and very much appreciated help.
How did the mixing and mastering by James Meslin and Maor Appelbaum enhance your musical vision?
So, with Jimmy, I got his contact through our mutual friend Jordan Rudess. I really loved what Rich Mouser did on the original Story album with the mix, but I just wanted to try something different this time. Maybe something a little heavier sounding with more polish. It’s always difficult when you have someone new that you don’t know well and you put all your hard work into their hands. These guys like Rich and Jimmy are very good and have done this stuff for a long time with known bands, so they have a vision of how it should sound. Problem is… so do I, haha. I think most engineers I have worked with probably hate me, because I have very specific things I want, but I’m not an engineer so I don’t have all the technical specifics like.. more 5K in the guitars! or whatever. I just know sounds. But Jimmy was fantastic. Once we kinda understood each other, we just kinda rolled. I had alot of things to send back, not because they were bad, but just not what I wanted out of it. He was really great in not yelling at me, haha. And in the end, I’m really happy with the S2 mix. Particularly how the guitars and drums turned out. Best guitar sounds I’ve ever gotten, honestly. Maor, was fantastic, too, and really easy. He’s done so many really big things, so he knows what’s up. I just told him I really didn’t want the master to be crushed. Like brick wall kinda stuff. But with these guys at this level, you just have to trust. So, I just said.. ok, do your thing. And it came back sounding perfect. Amazing blend of power but still retaining dynamics. Both these guys knocked it out of the park.
“Story 2” is instrumental but deeply Cinematic. How important is visual imagery in your music?
I think it’s very important, personally. As I said, the story, the art and the music are all part of the whole, to me. And in some cases, the art can help inspire the story or the music. That said, I’m sure some people are confused by why there’s a story or even the art to support it. The narration, as well. But I leave everything just detailed enough to suggest what the story is. The rest of it, you get to fill in, in your own mind. So, that means, if someone isn’t into immersion or creativity, they can just skip the track that’s narrated or not look at the art, or ignore the story. But to me, it all is part of the whole and really important. I spend just as much time and effort on the art, as I do the music.
Are there thematic or musical threads connecting “Story” and “Story 2” for fans to explore?
Oh yeah, for sure. I love little easter eggs. So I hide things all over the music. There’s even direct references to things I like. I’m not trying to rip anything off, it’s just that I really love old prog rock… Rush, Genesis, Yes, Tull, ELP, Kansas… all that stuff, so I will throw little references out there, here and there, for the listener because I’m pretty sure anyone into this music has probably listened to that stuff, as well. And now that we have a Story (1), I definitely placed little easter eggs from that in Story 2. You’ll hear little melodies from some of the songs on the original Story float in and out on Story 2, for example. And even somethings in the story itself are little throwbacks. I love that kinda of thing, because in a way, we’re world building, here. And I love for listeners to feel like they’re part of something.
Finally, what do you hope listeners feel or experience when diving into “Story 2”?
Well, I really would like listeners to come be a part of the story. I think it’s cool to hear a song and be into all the fast notes and all that. That’s a part of what it is. And I appreciate any positivity. But, for me, this is really an entire world we’ve created and stories about these little creatures having adventures. I really dig when people get immersed in the whole thing. I think it can make the experience far greater for them. Just let us take you on the journey.
“Story 2” is more than a showcase of technical prowess—it’s a fully immersive narrative journey through music. Fans of Progressive Rock and Metal will find themselves enthralled by the emotion, intricacy, and cinematic scope of Terry Syrek’s latest work. Experience the adventure yourself.
Thanks for saying that! And thanks so much for asking all these really great questions. I really appreciate the opportunity to talk a little about something I love so much.
Purchase “Story 2” on Bandcamp: https://syrek.bandcamp.com/album/story-2