COMBINATION HEAD

It´s amazing of how many excellent instrumental prog albums I have happened to find recently. And Combination Head is the newest one. I read about this english group here on PA and I must say I was quite surprised by their sound. The only member here that has a familiar name for proghead is the one of drummer Paul Burguess (who played with Camel, Jethro Tull and 10cc) and even then, he is not featured on all the tracks. However, the band does a great job here: their self title debut CD is all about fine melodies, tasteful arrangements, strong musicanship and impeccable perfomances. Ok, nothing´s really new or groundbreaking here. Just good music, with a keyboardsman (Paul Brichall) very much influenced by Keith Emerson and Peter Bardens (yes! Lots of vintage Hammond runs!), while guitarrists Keith Ashcroft and Gareth Moulton are skillful and versatile musicians, handling very well both the rocking moments and the more complex, jazzy parts with the same ease. Also of note is Dominic Finley´s fine, fluid, bass lines.

The CD is quite varied but it keeps the high quality of the songs all the way through, with no filler nor weak parts. It is ok that they surely could be a little more adventurous on some tracks, since they have the chops to do so (maybe the reason why they were labeled here as neo instead of the more fitting symphonic rock banner), but they decided to keep it short and direct. And they did it very well, by the way. My only gripe with this CD is its short overall time (a little over 38 minutes). It makes you long for more. And then you press the repeat buton over and over.

If you like instrumental prog rock with lots of conviction and passion, this is a must have. They showed a strong personality from the very start and I´m looking foward to hear their next works.

Ratinhg: 4 strong stars.