Extreme has just released “Rise”, the debut single from the band’s forthcoming album titled Six due out June 9th. If guitarist Nuno Bettencourt sounds like man on a mission on this track, it’s because he is. In a new interview with Guitar World, Bettencourt said he vows to make sure that the road Eddie paved for guitarists to follow must not come to an end.
“When Eddie Van Halen passed, it really hit me,” Bettencourt told Guitar World’s Matt Owen. “I’m not going to be the one who will take the throne, but I felt some responsibility to keep guitar playing alive. So, you hear a lot of fire on the record.”
Owen, who said Bettencourt has already delivered what will probably turn out to be 2023’s best guitar solo, added:
With any Extreme track, the electric guitar playing of Nuno Bettencourt is a highlight, but we’d wager even his most devout followers couldn’t have predicted the heights the guitar god would reach with Rise.
But then again, most fans wouldn’t have known the task Bettencourt set himself for Six: to carry Eddie Van Halen’s guitar fire.