SUNSET GUN

This is the fourth album by Kopecky which is basically three brothers - Joe, William and Paul - from Racine WI. Joe plays guitar and sings, William plays electric bass, keyboards and sitar, and Paul is a drummer. The music is a marriage of Late King Crimson (Discipline onwards era), progressive metal and traditional / ethnic music represented by the use of sitar. All the seven tracks a re instrumental. Unfortunately this is the only album I have from Kopecky so that I cannot make any comparison with previous work. In a way, it reminds me to Sean Malone's Gordian Knot, even though technically the music is different. Throughout the album you will find intense use of dynamic bass guitar work by William.

The album title "Sunset Gun" (8:04) opens the album with the music that is unique as it blends the style of late King Crimson and progressive metal plus orchestration. Bass guitar is the major drive of the music and it reminds me to Sean Malone's Gordian Knot. "Ascension" (5:32) starts off with long sustain, multi-layered, keyboard work followed with a stream of music in dynamic sound blending bass guitar and guitar which makes the music a bit complex. The good thing is on the creation of ambient nuance throughout the song. "The Divine Art of Flying" (5:22) explores William's capability in handling sitar excellently. Yeah, this is a well crafted composition which demonstrates not only William's musicianship but also the songwriting of this track. It embraces ethnic music nicely and the music flows naturally from one segment to another. You will refer this with Ravi Shankar album, obviously. The music style of this track reminds me to Steve Hackett's "The Red Flower of Tachai Blooms" from "Spectral Mornings" album.

"Selqet's Kiss" (10:50) combines symphonic nature of progressive music with prog met rhythm section. Bass guitar sounds like the dominant part of the music, combined with guitar and keyboard work. The music texture is ambient. The next track "Creation's Brief Gift" (10:11) is in similar vein with previous track where bass guitar drives the melody. Guitar provides repeated fills while bass guitar gives the melody. In fact, the combined work of guitar and bass is really nice. "Temptation's Screaming-Ground" (9:49) starts something heavy like a progressive metal song. The most attraction point is the intertwining bass guitar and guitar work - it's really cool!

Overall, I would recommend you to have this album especially if you like prog instrumental like Sean Malone' Gordian Knot. The music is not the same, but both are influenced by late King Crimson. For those who like bass guitar exploration, this is a good choice as well, and it's definitely a prog album. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)