THE DREAMER'S PARADOX

About a year after putting out Anamolous Material, JT BRUCE returns with his second album, The Dreamer's Paradox. This album is a much more mature effort, is a step forward from Anomalous Material. Whereas the debut was essentially a collection of stand-alone songs, The Dreamer's Paradox contains a concept that unifies the songs together with recurring musical themes and fairly abstract song titles. The songs here are much longer also, and are a bit heavier, but there is a large amount of quiet and soft spots, and production has improved a bit.

''The Dreamer's Overture'' sets the stage for the album, introducing many of the themes that are to be revisited throughout the duration of the album. This song is a good rocker, with great guitarwork from BRUCE, and the keys creating a dense backdrop. ''Plunge Into Hyperreality'' is my favorite track off of the album, with the wonderful Eastern-influenced acoustic guitar intro amid ominous keyboards, and continues as a fast-paced rocker. On the contrary, ''The Verge of Illusory Twilight'' is mainly a ballad, rarely transcending into heavier realms for the 8 ¾ it runs for. Also, the ''epic'' of the album is quite an interesting ''composition''. ''Hypnic Jerk'' is essentially a piece of musique concrète in the vein of ''Revolution 9'' by the Beatles, and ''9:28 AM'' by Queensrÿche. The song contains many sound samples, mainly heavily altered clips from the album. After the song is more than halfway through, a spoken word segment begins that explains the concept of dreams. A weird, but somehow, a very enjoyable track.

In the end, The Dreamer's Paradox is a very good album; much better than the well-done Anomalous Material. Although, a few complaints of mine are that there are a few too many soft spots in the album, and that the musical themes being revisited in the album might be revisited a bit too much. But, despite that, The Dreamer's Paradox is a solid effort from JT BRUCE, and should not be missed.

'The Dreamer's Paradox' - JT Bruce (7/10)

Talented multi-instrumentalist JT Bruce has returned for a second album with 'The Dreamer's Paradox;' an impressive foray into the realm of instrumental progressive metal. Developing upon the technical and rhythmic style generally associated with giants such as Dream Theater, Bruce takes his prowess at the electric guitar, and composes a generally successful song suite. While the album's style may lack the emotional impact of a masterpiece, 'The Dreamer's Paradox' is an intelligently composed and performed piece of work.

Although the music itself is instrumental, one can ascertain by the track titles, and an extended speech at the end of the album what the music is all about; dreaming and the perception of reality. Having a fair ground from which to sprout some intriguing music, the listener is greeted with an hour's worth of (slightly) melodic technical rock/metal. Although each track appears to function well on it's own, there are reucrring musical ideas throughout the piece that give flow to the album, and the sense that it is a single suite, much like 'Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence.'

Perhaps I like a bit more variety in my music, but 'The Dreamer's Paradox' feels generally samey, in terms of the way it is both played and composed. Disregarding the recurring motifs (which is to the album's benefit), alot of the album follows the same energetic, upbeat feel. The clearest exception to this rule is the final track, 'Hypnic Jerk.' Undeniably a piece of avant-garde rambling, the piece bears little to no resemblence to the rest of the music here, and packs as much weirdness into a single song as one might expect from a full blown avant artist. Each ten second segment brings in a new musical idea; at times unsettling, but always interesting. While this is very intriguing to listen to, it breaks alot of the flow to the album; making it feel almost as if the album truly ends the track before.

In any case, 'The Dreamer's Paradox' succeeds on a compositional level, even if the execution -not necessarily the guitars, which are well-played, but the other instruments/samples used- feels a bit bland. JT Bruce has come a fair way from his beginnings in 'Anomalous Material,' and anyone with a penchant for typical progressive metal should look into the work of JT Bruce and 'The Dreamer's Paradox.'