NO MYSTERY

With such a dream-team line-up (Corea, Clarke, White, DiMeola) you know you're in good hands. Indeed, this is great album, technical delight, ideas galore, it's pleasant, but it's not perfect. The technical skills are burden of this record; they work fine, but I would prefer slight less show-offs, and a bit more coherency. The songs are...brutal. From mellow fusion moments to the insane 32nd-note madness, these guys were in fusion what DREAM THEATER are in prog metal. Technicalities aside, there's a lot to be enjoyed, even if you're not much into fusion. There are some really weird melodies, a funk riff on a synth so deconstructed it sounds almost atonal. But it leads to more conventional tune (if you can call that sinister drumming conventional).

As the name of one song is " Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal", I challenge the listeners to find the traces of heavy metal on this fusion record! Oh well..it's not that ridiculous...at least not when you are listening to that spasmic piano passage, pseudo-classical and pseudo-flamenco (Albeniz??), which in its full furiousness cross-fades into different arrangement of the song...now you are on your way. Destination is unknown, but it will certainly be an experience.