ASUNDER

Steam Theory is the personal musical project of Jason Denkevitz, through which he creates prog that takes in various styles and influences at different times, and so creating unique sounds and songs. "Asunder" is an excellent collection of such tracks, generally in the realm of a very compelling and enjoyable power prog, but open to a whole landscape of sonic mixes and experimentation. To wit, most tracks are driven by electric guitar, either light or somewhat heavy, but often belying some wonderful acoustic guitar - some of Denkevitz's best playing is through that instrument - and some orchestral strings, variously in the vein of classical or exotic sounds, the latter variously bringing to mind deserts or East Asia. On top of that, "Intar" delves heavily into Indo-Arabic-Asian territory, and "Shyft" immediately after is heavily indebted to the New Wave revival. As a whole, the album is a great collection of prog that features some other excellent tangents, altogether well played and put together. The aforementioned "Intar" and "Shyft", as well as "Adrift" and "Spectres", are my personal favourite tracks - I so lean towards the second disc. But still enjoyable all around, and recommended to modern crossover fans.