ANOMALOUS MATERIAL

Here we have quite another unexpected discovery in the progressive world. I myself stumbled upon JT BRUCE, an unknown (quite literally, in that there are little details about him) multi- instrumentalist, artist, and independent film-maker, while browsing through the MP3s in the Progressive Metal sub-genre page here. Eventually, I decided to visit his website and found links to download his albums, which he has released under a Creative Commons License. So now, I shall review BRUCE's debut album, Anomalous Material.

The music on Anomalous Material is mostly instrumental progressive rock/metal, with some different genres thrown into the mix, with some poppy moments, and even a space rockish song, along with a big hard rock influence. Most of the songs are very short, ranging from 1 to 3 minutes in length; except for the epic, ''The Artist, The Sage, and The Jester'' which clocks in at an evenly-cut length of 15 minutes. Despite the fact that BRUCE plays everything on the album, it sounds like there is a full band playing, and the mix is also very spacious. BRUCE does a good job of creating an atmosphere not only with keyboards, but also with the guitar. And there is a perfect balance between the rockers and the ballads. And there isn't too much to chew on either, with each song being a short length. Although, with many of the songs being as short as they are, a few of them never seem to get started before they end. Also, placement of ''The Artist, The Sage, and The Jester'' in the second track slot can be a bit daunting to some because of its sheer length compared to the other songs; it could seem like a large lump to climb over at the beginning of an album of very abbreviated songs.

All in all, Anomalous Material by JT BRUCE, is a very promising debut. Very straightforward instru-prog-metal, although there are some subpar vocals in ''The Pioneer Anomaly''. If you want to listen to his work it can be downloaded for free from his website. Although, you can also do what I will do when I have enough money, and send a nice donation his way. He will surely appreciate it.