COEXIST

I'm a simple man. I see the legendary jazz fusion bassist Victor Wooten associated with a progressive metal act, I listen. What's the worst thing it could sound like? Another generic and uninspired prog metal super group in the vein of Sons of Apollo? Well, as fate would have it, that's exactly what it sounds like. And I am more cynical and weary because of it. The only thing this project could have done to make the music even more sterile and undifferentiated than it already is would have been to include Mike Portnoy on drums.

Octavision is a musical project formed and headed up by Armenian American virtuoso guitarist, producer, and all-around-nice-guy Hovak Alaverdyan. With musical appearances and contributions by the likes of bassist Bill Sheehan, veteran metal vocalist Jeff Scott Soto, and the aforementioned Victoor Wooten, its clear Alaverdyan has friends in high places, at least by the standards of progressive and heavy music. Alaverdyan spends most of his professional time sound mixing for film, television, and presumably music in the LA area. Not leaving him much time for his beloved pet musical project, Alaverdyan took almost 10 years to write, record, and produce Coexist. And while the love and dedication to the project are apparent in the production value and quality of the performances, the song writing is wholly unremarkable by the standards of today's progressive metal.

As for Wooten, he has stated in promotional materials for the record that he found the music both challenging to play and enjoyable to listen to. I do not doubt his sincerity. On a technical level, this music holds up with the most advanced prog metal out there. And assuming Wooten is not an obsessive prog metal nerd gobbling up all the progressive metal he can over the past 2 decades, he could be forgiven for finding originality in these compositions. But for those of us who have heard a fair amount of prog metal in our lives, this record has little to offer us.