ON THE EDGE

My love for Patrick Rondat’s work begun with his third solo album On the Edge. Although it took me some time (over half a year constantly searching) to get my hands on the CD itself, I love this album ever since I downloaded it from the ‘net in the first place. Come to think about it, if I wouldn’t listen to the mp3 version at first I probably wouldn’t be the proud owner of any of his albums, so maybe mp3s ain’t so bad after all?

Although this is a guitarists’ solo album, it’s pretty good listening for a rhythm section pervert like me as it contains well articulated Patrice Guers‘ work on the bass guitar–more distinct than on Amphibia–and Tommy Aldrige’s again interesting drumming. On the other hand, the role of Phil Woindrich’s keyboard seems to be reduced to some backing synths for the most part, coming out of shades only for couple of piano passages. But then again, this is a guitarists solo album after all.

Out of the whole recording my personally favorite song is Duality, the very first thing I’ve heard from Patrick Rondat. The song is split into three parts plus an introduction and bears some resemblance to Patrick’s grand composition Amphibia, where style changes symbolized water and land and the metamorphosis needed to be able to move between the two, whereas here it’s a duality of things, as every subject may have twofold meaning. Two heavy parts of the song (first and third) are separated with slow guitar musing laid upon quiet keyboard synths.

You can also find here Patrick’s well known track Burn out from Rape of the Earth this time arranged for piano and acoustic guitar–similarly to Amphibia part V–playing in unison for the most part, complementing each other. I don’t think this recording contains any bad songs at all. Some are simply good, like Into the Wild, some are outstanding, like Why do you do things like that resembling at first somewhat Magic Elf’s style until Didier Lockwood and Michel Petrucciani kicks in with their solos, followed by Phil’s and Patrick’s.

Given how much I like listening to this recording and how much pain it was to actually get the CD, this is definitely one of the shining pearls of my collection. It’s a really interesting progressive rock/metal album written and performed by a very talented guitarist; well produced, with juicy, rich sound. The album is very consistent, but because it is instrumental it requires listener’s concentration or otherwise it may all get blured. Nonetheless, like all Patrick Rondat’s albums, I recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a modern, heavy progressive sound and/or inspiration.