WIZARD'S EYES

As this artist is categorized here under progressive metal - and I'm generally very little interested in metal genres -, I'm surprised to enjoy the album as much as I do. Quite likely this will be among my favourite instrumental rock albums of this year. Guitarist Max Velychko has been involved in several bands, but to me his playing was familiar only from the last year's album of MODERN- ROCK ENSEMBLE. The core of Inside The Sound are Velychko (guitars, keyboards, composer) and bassist Dmitri Trifonov (bass, co- composer on two tracks). Drums are shared by two guys, and some tracks feature guests.

This instrumental music full of power. Of course there's the guitar-heavy metal style present on most tracks, but the metal ingredient leaves plenty of room for other nuances too. The spacey keys work excellently together with the roaring guitars that are sonically not restricted to the angry metal sound. Velychko is one hell of a guitarist! My musical associations happen to be Finnish artists: Time Traveller and Low Budget Orchestra are one-man bands centred on heroic guitarism, and Inside The Sound easily beats them both. There's a sense of space rock, comparable to MOONWAGON. And what's best, the music has the vitality of jazz-rock and fusion. And the compositions are pretty progressive too. So, this album can sincerely be recommended to listeners of the mentioned genres.

Every third given rating here is five stars, and I sure sympathize with that. I'm undecided between 4 and 5 stars myself. The production is superb, as well as the playing. There are no weak tracks. Perhaps in the end the high-tempo energy gets a bit too overwhelming on the course of the 53-minute album. But remember, this comment comes from a listener favouring emotional aspect over technical bravado and power in music. [A little detail in the running order feels slightly questionable: with 'Intro' and 'Outro' the whole would have formed a coherent arch, if the relatively calm 'The Cold Spring' would have come somewhere earlier instead of being a "bonus track".]