EMERGENT

Sean Malone is among the most charismatic fretless bass guitarists and most essentially a great musician who loves to experiment. Gordian Knot is basically Malone's personal band. The line-up in "Emergent" is once again all-star, consisting of Malone's present (Paul Masvidal, Sean Reinert ) and ex-bandmates (Jason Gobel) in Cynic, Bob Brunin (Aerial Surface) on fretless guitars, the mastermind of Fates Warning, Jim Mattheos, and two legendary musicians of 70's prog rock: Steve Hackett and Bill Bruford.

This is one of my favourite albums relesed in 2003. In My opinion this album proves that Malone is one of the best bass players in the world, not only because he can play and combine metal with jazz with his unique style as only few can, but also because he can compose. All songs are great here (by the way better than in Gordian Knot's debut, more melodic and mellower).

Another thing is the orchestration. Malone got the best out of all plarers here and I don't refer to the ex and current Cynic members. His collaboration with Bruford in "The Brook The Ocean" and Hackett and Bruford in "Singing Deep Mountain" is beyond expectation.

A little bit below the level of a masterpiece. Recommended to all prog rock/metal fans. Favourite tracks: "Fischer's Gambit", "A Shaman's Whisper", "Singing Deep Mountain".