UNIVERSE

Hi-skill metal-fussion chops. There's no doubt of the instrumental skill of these guys, my favourite being Virgil Donati's amazing drumming. MacAlpine has a great technique too and his playing is somewhat more versatile than that of many guitar shredders out there. I also appreciate the leaning to fussion compared to the straight metal orientation of many other chop musicians. I saw them live in a very small club in Belgium during the tour for this album and I really enjoyed the gig, seeing this music being played 3 meters from your nose leaves you speechless. They were also very friendly in the after-gig where I could talk a little with them and get their signatures on my copy of this CD.

As a studio album it's spectacular for the first 2 listens but it gets repetitive and depending on your mood even boring. I enjoy virtuoso playing but I also demand some deeper musicality in the package. Taken as isolated tracks they are ok, but there's too little variation and even if some riffs and scales are really interesting, when taken as a whole I can't help feeling a lack of sensibility in the compositions.

A great demonstration of technical skill which will delight chop fans but which will probably disappoint more sensible listeners who search for rich prog music.