AT WAR WITH SELF
Tech/Extreme Prog Metal • United States
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At War With Self - sounds more like a psychological diagnosis than a band! This spanking new group is an instrumental power prog trio leaping onto the progressive scene at Mach 1. The project is the brainchild of guitarist / multi-instrumentalist Glenn Snelwar. Torn Between Dimensions, the band's debut recording on the Free Electric Artists label (a part of Laser's Edge), features Snelwar on guitar, mandolin, and keyboards; Michael Manring on fretless bass and e-bow; and Fates Warning's Mark Zonder on drums and percussion. Zonder's solidly tasty drumming firmly anchors the trio along with the melodically propulsive bass work of Manring, all wonderfully adorned by Snelwar's fierce playing.
The band serves up intense, emotional pieces in a wide variety of musical styles. Snelwar's intention is to "open doors to listeners who may be unfamiliar with progressive rock, classical guitar or metal." At War With Self have an equal passion for such diverse types of music as progressive and metal bands like King Crimson, Voivod and Pink Floyd; classical composers such as Bartok and Villa Lobos; as well as bluegrass and jazz. Torn Between Dimensions takes these influences and combines them into something undeniably progressive and strikingly original. The end result is a dense wall of sound, with different textures and feels within each number, one song flowing seamlessly into the next.
Guitarist Glenn Snelwar is perhaps best known for his contributions to Gordian Knot's eponymous debut, a project led by Chapman Stick player Sean Malone that featured guest performances by Trey Gunn (King Crimson), Sean Reinert (Cynic) & John Myung (Dream Theater). Snelwar helped co-write three of the songs for Gordian Knot, as well as contributing guitar work. Since his involvement with Gordian Knot, Snelwar has been incorporating mandolin, keyboard and string section programming into a foundation of classical, steel string and electric guitar arrangements to great effect.
Michael Manring is a world-renowned, Grammy-nominated bassist who has appeared on over 100 studio projects, including recording and performing with Michael Hedges and Attention Deficit Disorder (with former Primus drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander). Michael's fretless bass parts play a vital role on Torn Between Dimensions, melodic but never overwhelming.
For over 15 years, Mark Zonder occupied the drum stool for progressive metal legends Fates Warning. As Zonder's fans would expect, h...read more
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![]() | A Familiar Path CD Baby 2009 | $11.47 $6.97 (used) |
![]() | Torn Between Dimensions THE LASER'S EDGE 2017 | $14.84 $15.10 (used) |
![]() | Acts of God CD Baby 2007 | $6.99 $2.98 (used) |
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AT WAR WITH SELF Reviews
Showing last 10 reviews only
At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by
UMUR
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

The music on "Acts of God" continues the progressive rock/metal style of "Torn Between Dimensions (2005)", but is ultimately a rather different sounding release. Itīs still predominantly instrumental progressive rock/metal with dynamic use of clean/acoustic guitars, keyboards and occasionally heavier guitar parts and solos. The big difference here is in the drum department, where only some tracks feature "real" drums. On most of the tracks the drums are programmed, and as a consequence the music loses some of itīs otherwise organic sound (the sound production is actually more organic than the case was on the debut album). The drums sound like they are programmed (although Iīm told thatīs actually not the case) which also makes the whole listening experience less band oriented and more one-man project sounding (it was the other way around on the debut album).
The music style is very hard to describe correctly as there are elements from jazz rock/fusion, progressive rock/metal, instrumental guitar music, ambient/atmospheric new age and latin music, featured on the album among other things.
As mentioned above "Acts of God" is predominantly an instrumental release, but there are actually quite a few vocal tracks on the album too, which is good for the variation of the album. Itīs obvious that Glenn Snelwar is a skilled musician and everything is delivered with tight precision and with the right amount of adventurous ideas, but the compositions themselves are for the most part slightly unremarkable. "Acts of God" is pleasant and interesting enough while it plays, but the material generally doesnīt stick, and thatīs a bit of an issue. Even the vocal tracks just plod along without any recognisable hooks or memorable choruses.
Just like the case was on the debut album, I find myself listening for technical details and other performance related features, instead of just enjoying the music for what it is, and thatīs always a sure sign that the actual compositions lack something. Itīs not a terrible release by any means, but itīs not really great either, so a 3 star (60%) rating isnīt all wrong.
At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by
UMUR
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

And with a trio like that playing together it's no wonder the musical performances on the album are of a high quality. Stylistically the music on the album is instrumental progressive rock/metal with strong jazz rock/fusion leanings and more than one nod towards latin music. While At War With Self is widely considered a metal oriented act, the metal elements are limited to some heavy riffing and occasional distorted guitar sections. A couple of darker tinged tracks also contribute to the metal sound, but it's actually 90s Al Di Meola releases like "Orange And Blue (1994)" and "The Infinite Desire (1998)", that I'm mostly reminded of. So there are as many latin influenced acoustic guitar sections, jazzy guitar solos, fusion influenced drumming, and ambient keyboards featured on "Torn Between Dimensions", as there are heavy distorted riffs.
The balance between the different stylistic elements is an important element in At War With Self's sound. At times the dynamic music works well and other times the transitions between sections are a bit more awkward sounding. There's is no doubt that Glenn Snelwar is both a skilled musician and a skilled composer when it comes to the techncial aspect of playing and writing music, but listening to "Torn Between Dimensions" there's very little on the album that really grabs me and pulls me in. I find myself more interested in the music from a musician's point of view than from a music listener's point of view, and although that sort of "musician's music" is always interesting from a technical perspective, the music generally lacks emotional impact and memorability.
The sound production is also a bit disjointed and although all instruments individually feature a relatively good sound (the distorted guitar tone isn't that well sounding though), the instruments don't always work well together in the mix. So "Torn Between Dimensions" is an album with quality assets and some issues and therefore a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.
At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by Ovidiu

At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by
Epignosis
Special Collaborator Eclectic Prog Team

"Reflections" Tastefully immediate, the album launches into textured metal, in which each instrument can be heard with clarity. It has an element of folk music underneath the mayhem. This is a brilliant opener with many layers, sonic clarity, and an uplifting middle section.
"Diseased State" Bridging acoustic bits with flare-ups of jarring metal lead into atmospheric passages interrupted by a slaughterhouse of feeble heavy metal.
"A Familiar Path" This piece is far superior, returning to the deep acoustic-led textured music that I loved in the first track. At once organic and mechanical, it introduces the first vocals, which are thick, if dull, harmonies. An Alice in Chains fan, particularly one who loves Jar of Flies, would love this. It's also like recent Echolyn, and I'm even more a fan of that. Echolyn and Alice in Chains- any takers? I'll raise my hand first.
"The Ether Trail" Gritty bass, high-pitched synths and a foundation of drums and heavy guitars make this a unique affair on this album. It almost feels like a heavy metal "Heart of the Sunrise." But it quickly turns into something of its own, with screaming lead guitar.
"Ourselves" Acoustic guitars, bass, and cymbals lead into a heavier, albeit more brittle passage. The vocals are male and female but through a distorted telephonic effect. That may be effective in the first verse, but I cannot imagine them sounding worse with no such effects. They really should have done this song with little or nothing more than reverb. This would have been the highlight of the album. Maybe they'll release a live version of the song without the pointless vocal distortion.
"Etude No.10" As one may expect, this is a classical guitar piece that is more exciting though less captivating than Steve Howe's performance in "The Ancient." It clearly features a number of open-string pull-offs. It all leads into a fuzzy, full-on psychedelic metal experience, which is not bad, but perhaps not appropriate.
"Concrete and Poison" More immediate heavy metal pours through. It offers different textures, including clean guitars, harmonic lead guitars left and right, and a thick but hearable bass. Its variations include pounding metal and flowing flute-led passages. The latter half is a tad muddled, but Irish-inspired enough to like.
"Hope" A solo electric guitar jazz piece in dropped-D and heavy distortion fuels this farewell. If the album had not shown was a clever player Glenn Snelwar was, then this does. Somehow, I appreciate his tone, despite my personal taste (and my dead grandpa) telling me it should be otherwise.
At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by
Cesar Inca
Special Collaborator Honorary Collaborator

At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by Ovidiu

At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by Ovidiu

At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by
Mellotron Storm
Prog Reviewer

"The God Interface" opens with synths as piano joins in before drums, acoustic guitar and bass create a full sound. A calm with acoustic guitar and drums a minute in.Those spacey, haunting synths continue. Heaviness before 2 minutes. It settles as mandolin joins in. Bass and electric guitar before 3 minutes as it picks up again. Great song ! "Torn Between Dimensions" is dark with bass, acoustic guitar, keys and drums. It gets heavier and more aggressive before a minute. It settles again to a brighter mood this time.Yes torn between dimensions. The contrasts continue. Gorgeous guitar 3 minutes in. Very intelligent music. "A Gap In The Stream Of Mind Part One" is fuller right away with electric guitar, drums and keys. A fairly heavy rhythm actually before it calms down after a minute. The tempo picks up again with some nice guitar. It gets pretty intense. "Grasping At Nothing" has a good intro. It settles right down a minute in. Intricate and tasteful. Some good bass 2 minutes in. Piano joins in. It's heavier 3 minutes in. Nice.
"Coming Home" is acoustic and intricate as synths create atmosphere. Keys come in. A very acoustic track. "The Event Horizon" is heavy with some strings which work very well. Zonder is amazing as usual. A cool and intense song. "A Gap In The Stream Of Mind Part Two" is the longest song at just under 8 minutes. Dark with this heavy undercurrent. Kind of eerie actually. It gets heavier before 2 minutes. Contrast continues. This is spooky throughout but the ending is really haunting. Killer tune and my favourite along with the title track. "Run" is the heaviest yet ! Riffs galore and when they stop the guitar starts to grind away while the drums pound. I like when it settles later. Beautiful, then it kicks back in. "A Gap In The Stream Of the Mind Part Three" is 2 minutes of transcending and moving music. "At War With Self" is uptempo to start, synths before a minute then it kicks back in. The contrasts continue. I like the guitar 4 1/2 minutes in.
I really like this style of music and this one's a winner. Easily 4 stars.
At War With Self Tech/Extreme Prog Metal
Review by iceman3019

first of all, we have to review the line-up. excluding his work with gordian knot, glenn snelwar was relatively new to me, but i had high expectations from previous listenings via his website. michael manring comes next, and if you know anything about him, he is a phenomenal fretless bass player, and studied under the late jaco pastorius (the greatest bass player that ever lived). mark zonder is last on the line-up, and all i know about him is his work with fates warning, namely, the album "a pleasant shade of grey." i wouldn't hestiate to juxtapose him with dream theater's mike portnoy. so, this should give you a guage of what i expected from this cd.
upon popping it into my cd-player, i was a bit scared, that this group wouldn't meet up to my expectations, but with the first track, "the god interface," i was relieved. my god. if nothing else, this album is about 1239487 musical ideas lumped perfectly together, under the guise of being "progressive metal." there's everything from eastern or tribal influences, straightup metal, early progressive, and even some jazz. the almost seemless blending of such beloved genres was ecstacy for my ears. snelwar exceeded my expectations by ten fold, with his plethora of neat classical acoustic fills in the songs. zonder's work was as good as, if not better, than his fates warning stuff, and manring, perhaps with the chunkiest, deepest bass tone known to mankind, weaves in and out of snelwar's liens and zonder's beat. another highlight the addition of mandolins, eastern percussion, electronic ambient effects, and keyboards to various tracks gave it a "moody" feel, highlights the "texture" of each piece (for lack of better words). this is something very commendable, since conveying "moods" and feeling via an instrumental album isn't the easiest feat.
complaints you ask? by no means is this a perfect album (and for that matter, perfect albums are BAD, perfect should not exist). the mixing quality is a bit unbalanced, with manring's fretless in the foreground, zonder's drums next, and all the way in the back of the mix, snelwar's acoustic guitars. at times, you have to try and find the guitar lines, but then again, singling out certain instruments on ANY album ruins the musical quality of it. other than this, this album gets a well deserved 5/5 (since 4.5/5 doesn't exist here, 5/5 doesn't mean "perfect" by any means, just what the scale states: "essential, a masterpeice of progressive music") . . . be sure to get the next at war with self album :) . . .