RELOCATOR

Relocator is one of the pleasent surprises from this year in jazz fusion world. Formed in 2004 in Germany Relocator knew from the stars how must sound a jazz fusion piece with prog metal tentencies. They are a quartet with bass, drums, guitar and violin but happend to have as invited guest no one else then Derk Sherian, so imagine the overall sound how solid and catchy is. I must confess I was realy impressed by this band and debute album, released in january 2010. Everything is working like a clock, it's obvious they are germans, the album is all instrumental and has some spectacular passages all over. I like that Derek Sherinian is realy an invited guest and doesn't take the lead with his keybords , he has a solid contribution for sure but the band is the one that gives the sound in the end. All four musicians realy shines, I like the atmosphere, is little lighter then other production from this field, but is a good thing here, all tracks are balanced, not one is in front then other, I appreciated this because this way the album has consistency allthe way. The first two pieces struck me most, because of the splendid violin use Red Vibes and Bisphere, a very delightfull sound , who by the way goes hand in hand with the rest of the instrument, great passages, not to Dixie Dregs or Jean Luc Ponty , just perfect , quite melodic but yed energic and positive in vibe. The drumer is fantastic, realy did a great job, very sure of what he does, never to pushy never to slow or fast, my fav musician from here. The jazzy elements are realy strong melted with more rougher ones, close to progressive metal, it gives a special and very tought sound. All pieces are lenghty enough for the musician to show us that they mean bussines, they realy do with each passage they play. So, overall an excellent work by this young band , they realy done it with this one, while is nothing close to a masterpiece I can appreciate this work to the max and give without hesitation 4 stars, keeping in mind that the booklet is perfect , very futuristic in aproach and well done, tanks to design/artwork colourbites from Germany. Recommended for sure one of the most pleasent album of the year so far and why not one of the good albums from this genre in last years. Who enjoy Planet X, LTE, even some of the Sherinian solo must check this one out because worth every second.