TIKTAALIKA

Astounding sounds prevail on Haken guitar player Charlie Griffiths's debut solo album titled 'Tiktaalika', a crossover prog metal opus with five-star guest appearances, and for some listeners a fascinating marriage between 80s thrash grooves and tech-prog complexity, this album reveals the artist's love of thrash, alternative and technical metal, all abundant here as the stylistic diversity and playing range of Griffiths impress from start to finish - this is a masterful work from a seasoned player who is confident and capable enough to put together such an ambitious project, featuring some of the genre's most recognizable and gifted musicians, namely Thomas Giles, Darby Todd, Jordan Rudess, Rob Townsend, Danïel De Jongh, Vladimir Lalić, and Neil Purdy, while the album has been mixed by Adam "Nolly" Getgood, formerly part of djent outfit Periphery.

The 'Prehistoric Prelude' introduces a ravaging riff that transitions into 'Arctic Cemetery', a technical, brutal and gloomy number with great vocals from Thomas Giles and some awesome guitar playing and production, followed by 'Luminous Beings' and its quirky textures more pertinent to the recent Haken material and their signature brand of prog metal. What comes after are arguably the two centerpieces of the record, the 8-minute tracks 'In Alluvium' and 'Dead In the Water', both of which feature the vocals of Vladimir Lalić. The former is a strong epic with Devin Townsend-esque polyrhythms mashed with a very upfront, modern metal production, a dazzling guitar tone and a ballsy swagger that elevates the piece into a roaring prog metal anthem, while the latter of these is an absolutely killer track replete with gnarly riffing, wacky shifts and hefty sax notes, or else, an in-your-face prog pomp. Another highlight is the instrumental title track (a Dave Mustaine-attempted Dream Theater epic), an all-around prog homage that is equal parts menacing and impressive, the irony aside. Some may also enjoy the gritty technical metalcore of 'Crawl Walk Run', while the closing track works as a coda and provides for a nice framing of the entire album, which is excellent and highly recommended for all enjoyers of the prog metal genre.

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