THE MUSE

Though he's clearly a guitarist first and foremost Cotner is responsible for all instruments on the album including some keyboards and drum programming. The Muse is largely instrumental with the exception of the acoustic guitar/vocal song Claire. Much of the material is on the heavy side and this is where the album works best. He blends elements of metal, heavy rock, jazz fusion and prog to quite pleasing results. He's clearly spent considerable time listening to guitar shredders such as Joe Satriani and knows his way around a fretboard. Though you won't find anything startlingly original here The Muse is a more than competent release with one or two exhilarating guitar workouts, particularly when he's in metal mode with some quite well thought out arrangements. Never a fan of programmed drums, it has to be said that Cotner has done a passable job here with some quite complex patterns.

Far from essential then but as a free download what have you got to lose! Well worth a listen at least.