CHAPTERS I & II

Juhani Nisula is a Finnish multi-instrumentalist who I've had the pleasure to discover through his Myspace and get to know his entertaining brand of instrumental prog rock. Time Traveller is his project where he writes and arranges all the music. This album called Chapters I & II is the first part in a series of release he envisions. It features multi-part compositions where the keyboards (of various kinds) alternate the lead role with the guitars (all played by juhani); the music flows on uninterrupted, moving from theme to theme, from one temperament to another with each track being distinct from the others by the melody and the instruments that dominate that specific composition. Divided into two chapters, the music is flowing steadily in each of these, advancing naturally from one track to the other, mostly very dynamic and powerful, sometimes blues-like sounding (in rhythm and guitar sound) and at others even a bit of hard-rock like; but mostly the variety, the vast scope and the complexity of this piece as a whole is very rewarding for the prog-rock fan. The variety comes to place as I listen to the music, travelling from heavier segments (track 2) to more peaceful and emotional parts (track 5), from more spacey surroundings (short part in the middle of track 4) to more lush and "symphonic-prog"-like dispositions (middle of track 2), from the more complex type of arrangement to more straightforward rock (middle and ending of track 4, track 5) - all of these are submerged in a rich and enveloping sound. Chapter I is generally less heavy than II (though not by too much) and has a more "old-prog" feel to it, whereas Chapter II is more propulsive (again, generally speaking) and finishes with in a very nice finale that made me wish it would last longer. The occasional use of sound effects adds a special touch to the overall feeling of this album. There are however some moments and melodies which were less appealing to me in their more straightforward approach, more "usual-sounding" guitar lead tunes, but those were not too frequent and I'm sure other listeners will love those. Chapters I & II are a fine instrumental and heavy progressive rock adventure. I'm looking forward to his next release.