Review Summary: A musician from another planet.
If your a string plucker of any kind, and haven't yet had the experience of digesting any of Allan Holdsworth's compositions, then you may want to indulge in either this record, or metal fatigue (or possibly the supergroup UK's debut album) because the guys in a league of his own when it comes to guitar technique. Eddie van halen, john petrucci, frank Zappa, they all bow to this gentleman.
That said, Holdsworth's music isn't for everyone. For starters it's 9/10 instrumental, and not somthing you can nod your head to. Furthermore it's probably not somthing you could even whistle or hum along to (at first) due to the hefty amount of musicianship going on. Sound wise, your looking at jazz/rock/progressive with a spacey feel.
The usual holdsworth-esque shenanigans are here, albeit slightly more accessible than later releases. Holdsworth's backup weapon: the synthaxe, makes it's debut here, which compliments the music nicely (although it just sounds like a keyboard) and a stunning female vocalist adds a nice twist to the music in the later tracks, singing those "off" notes that Holdsworth specialises in. Although not AS accessable as his previous album: metal fatigue, some of Holdsworth's trickiest leads are featured here, and puts other guitarists to shame, in a very English way. Although Holdsworth's playing could be described in lengthy and nerdy detail, why spoil the surprise?
The rest of the band does well, very well. It wouldn't be unusual for the keyboard player to play about 10 key changes in the space of a second in an Allan holdsworth composition (Slight exaggeration there). The rhythym section is tighter than a ducks arse, and baffles the listener how these guys even went about learning these songs.
Alan holdsworth is simply put, from another planet, he's basically taken an instrument and re-wrote the book on how to play it. His music was never going to be for everyone, but like the man said himself "if one out of a million people like my music, then as far as I'm concerned I've done my job."
