Rusty Cooley

Rusty Cooley emerged from the Houston, Texas music scene as a self-taught guitar prodigy who came up through a string of regional acts before establishing himself as a solo force. He received his first guitar and amplifier for his fifteenth birthday, and after growing dissatisfied with local instructors he taught himself using resources like Doug Marks's Metal Method, Ted Greene's chord books, REH instructional videos, and Robben Ford's instructional DVDs. Early in his career he cut his teeth in locally successful bands Revolution, Dominion, and Outworld , developing a reputation as a relentless, technically obsessive player long before he had any national profile. By the mid-1990s, unsatisfied with the local musicians around him, he began working on solo music in early 1996 and started playing seven-string guitars exclusively. Cooley's breakthrough arrived through both his solo output and the formation of his signature project. In October 1997, the band Outworld was formed to record and perform instrumental music. His solo career gained real traction when his debut solo album, the self-titled Rusty Cooley, was released in 2003 by Lion Music, consisting of 12 tracks, one of which, "Under the Influence," was released as a video as well. Outworld itself did not release its debut until years later, when Cooley contributed guitar work to the band's self-titled debut album, released in 2006 on Replica Records, delivering key solos on every track including standout performances on "War Cry" and "Push It to the Limit," blending progressive metal with technical shredding. The lineup found real momentum around this era, and in August 2007 Outworld won 10,000 dollars in a Famecast contest similar to American Idol where viewers watched and voted for their favorite artist. Cooley's playing drew comparisons throughout this period to the genre's biggest names, with Guitar Player magazine calling him "the leading light of the post-Malmsteen shred-volution." As his profile grew, Cooley became a fixture of the guitar press and instructional world while continuing to expand his musical output. He wrote a column called "Metal Guru" for Guitar Player magazine , and was featured in Guitar Player, Guitar One, Guitar World, Guitar Techniques, and Axe magazines. His gear evolved alongside his reputation; 2007 saw the development and release of his Dean Signature Guitar, the RC7 Xenocide. He continued pushing his sound with heavier and more aggressive material, and in the years that followed he expanded his output beyond Outworld, later forming Day of Reckoning in 2010, serving as guitarist and a driving creative force , a band that released the EP Spread Your Disease in 2020, with Cooley also contributing guest solos to albums by artists such as All Shall Perish, After the Burial, and Austrian Death Machine. Cooley remains active today as a guitarist, composer, and educator, continuing to record and teach out of the Houston area where he first picked up the instrument. Between 2011 and 2013, he hosted a video series on the YouTube channel GuitarAsylumTV, in which he interviewed rock and metal guitarists including Oli Herbert, Mark Tremonti, and Jeff Loomis. His reputation as one of the genre's premier technicians has only solidified over time; he has been consistently ranked among the "Fastest Shredders of All Time" by Guitar outlets, and remains a touchstone for players drawn to seven- and eight-string extended-range guitar work within progressive and neoclassical metal.