in regards to technicality vs. soul I would tell you to listen to Yngwie play "blues" solos as he calls it

it's not the blues, it's blinding fast licks without the use of harmonic minor , there is definatly no feeling to that music that he refers to as "blues"

there is a definate abundance of technicality and a lack of soul in those solos

and with the theory thing, I feel that theory can sometimes hurt the writing writing process, but the amount that it helps jamming and improv more than makes up for it