FOLLOWING THE UNKNOWN

JAM IT! is a band from St. Petersburg, Russia. A quartet, with Alexey Vostrikov playing drums, Dmitry Medvinsky playing bass, Konstantin Ilin playing guitar, and Roman Savelyev playing keyboards, and special guest musician Szendőfi Balázs (bass solo). Despite being classified as a Jazz Rock / Fusion band here in Prog Archives, their music has several musical influences, predominantly from Progressive Metal music. It sounds to me like all the members are trained musicians. All play very well their respective musical instruments.

This, their third studio album, has the following instrumental musical pieces:

'Following the Unknown': a Jazz-Rock musical piece with some "Arabian" musical scales (I think) and very Progressive Metal musical arrangements, with the band playing several changes in rhtythm, plus some heavy distorted guitars and synth solos.

'Sea Breeze': a more 'conventional' Jazz-Rock Fusion musical piece, but also with Progressive Metal Rock arrangements.

'Through The Forest': another Jazz-Rock/ Fusion influenced musical piece, which makes me remember a bit the musical style from STEVE MORSE / THE DIXIE DREGS. With some very good keyboards 'atmospheres'.

'Mountain Of Solitude': a more 'conventional Rock' guitar musical piece, with the predominant use of less distorted guitar playing. It is maybe the less 'complicated' song in this album, but with also some changes in rhythm.

'Avalanche': it starts with some drums and bass solos. A more heavy musical piece, it is also very Jazz-Rock / Fusion in musical style. With very complicated drums playing in some parts.

'Into The Mist': it starts with some acoustic guitar playing. A very much Jazz-Rock/ Fusion musical piece, with a guitar and a keyboard playing similar melodies at the same time in some parts.

'Random Name Hero': the heaviest song in this album, and the best in my opinion, with a lot of changes of rhythm and Progressive Metal music arrangements. With a very good bass solo maybe played by special guest musician Szendőfi Balázs.

This is a very interesting energetic instrumental music album. I think that despite some Progressive Metal musical influences, the Jazz-Rock / Fusion influences are the most important influences in this album. With a lot of tempo changes, this album as a whole is never boring or 'dark'. Very well recorded and mixed. The cover art is also good. This is very good band from Russia. They sound like they rehearsed a lot, and it also sounds like this album was done with a lot of care and dedication.

I give a 4.5 stars rating for this album.