WHOOPGNASH

Erickson's voicings of solos and effects treatments was more like Eric Wollman and Carl Roa of Magic Elf. This reverbed, delay echoes created that "in the next room" essence -- thereby rendering most solos as coming from a "distance" vs. an "in your face" attack's powerful presence. Don't get me wrong here -- the chops are solid and satisfy but lacked that immediate "headspace" present in most all the chordal passages. So I was left with this release being biased in its impact residing mainly in chords and roll-picking arpeggios song to song. Soloing, (my favorite section of fusion), took a more subtle "backseat" sonically speaking. Track six, "Eine" was more to my tastes mix-wise in its Connors' Assembler type of pushing the solo to the forefront of the mix with a "punching out" and therefore assailing the listener with more note-phatness, power & glory. "In Memory Of" held spectacular solo section riffage that really shined but was too mixed down & faraway -- "burning up off in echo land" -- to fully deliver all the umph it held.

Overall, I'd recommend this as a solid fusion release but I found the mix not to my taste as I wanted to hear Erickson's superb soloing more than distant callings or echoes of the chordal cries.

If you have dug Holdsworth for years, then enjoy this Erickson cat skittering all over that I.O.U./ Metal Fatigue era sound. Bass work and drum lines are fine too with Erickson interweaving intricate finger rolls and subdued backing soundscapes in Texan, Eric Johnson's style. We tone down the fusion-fueled, frenzy on "Reunions" and my mind is cast into dreamworlds of chordal ascension to the stairway lit by heaven's portals. Erickson's emotive lead is precisely voiced like a soul crying out for answers to life's myriad of set backs. Wonderful cut! A wealthy amount of exactly the type fusion that typifies the best to be heard is right here folks. And executed with pizazz. Get this CD and help one more unknown fusion group make it big time. Don't believe me? Just sample "Sissy- Boy Slap Party"! You'll see the light too. Highest of recommendations.

I notice too that this recording is mastered, mixed and produced excellently with fun channel pans and crystalline separation. This is a wide-open, headroom maxed CD. Signal to noise ratio is ~ 100 to 0 if ya know what I mean. Compositions & voicings are varied enough to easily avoid that typical fusion rock rut of every song being too narrow in the spectrum of sonicland.

For those needing places to anchor their heads as to what this Whoopgnash band is all about, try and figure this description out: Allan Holdsworth, in his I.O.U era was given a dose of Scott McGill's eclectic rock heaviness and kink ~ mixed in with a healthy swig of Ohm's Chris Poland ferocity and then the bpm is cranked way up. In a word, exhilarating!

Whoopgnash has really matured over their three-CD span of releases and this one shows them coming into their own trademark sound. I give this high-octane, fusion rock a solid 10 and highly recommend it for your collection. So buy it now! That's how fusion survives.

I don't think John Erickson, WHOOPGNASH's guitarist would mind me calling his playing Holdsworthian, with the legato and fast runs, but he steers well clear of the Holdsworth-clone pigeonhole. (There are a number of professional jazz guitarists who are happy to be known to playing in the style of Wes Montgomery without being slavish, so let's avoid any hassle when somebody adopts and adapts a Holdsworthian approach?) This album is a much more exuberant, extrovert album than recent albums by Holdsworth - who IMHO has been more cerebral/intellectual with his jazz fusion output through the 90's. Whoopgnash as a listening experience, has to be taken as a work by all three members of the band, not simply that of an excellent guitarist. The drums and bass are a real treat, adding synergistically to the whole, sounding unlike any Holdsworth rhythm section I remember, while giving an energy similar to that heard with Wayne Krantz's rhythm section on Greenwich Means. One nice bonus, is in that I've found myself whistling several of the main themes of tunes on this album - and I can't remember doing that for a long time!!! Check out my favourite track 'Too Hammered To Be Legit' for where the Holdsworth similarities start and finish.

An excellent debut album. A most strongly recommended album.