ERSATZ

Havng seen the reference to Taal, I thought this group, and this album would be a rather sure bet to please. And while it is a pleasant enough listen, once I take it out of my CD player, I'm not left humming any melodies or riffs. The playing is excellent, Half the tracks are hard complex rockers that recall Taal, and some Rush type of instrumentals. But nothing that makes me want to sit down and learn to play on guitar. Solhmin Arm starts off the album in a symphonic manner, and did make me think I had hit the jackpot with this record. But then song 2 - Ersatz - lets me down. It, to me , is really nothing more than the sort of hard jazz fusion playing that seems to be tossed off too easily by technical able musicians without attention paid to whether there is any melodic structure past the sterotypical runs. Bleu Cerise is the one where I see the Anekdoten sound, but with the added jazz fusion bent. Good, but I have to listen to it as I write to recall it. Not good, eh. Oceane is a nice respite, a comparatively short acoustic spanish guitar bit. But nothing that makes it stand out from what any semi-advanced guitar student could not improvise as a theoretical exercise. Kossmokardak, DDar # 1 & 2 again do no better than remind me of the unoriginality that is too often a feature of such music. I think back to Karcius, some Niacin, and other hard rock jazz fusion groups that display great chops, but average song-writing. So, if you're a musician who enjoys hearing technical excellence, and can get past the weakness of the compositions, then this is something that would be worth a listen. But there are better and more competent and complete musicians out there who should get your attention first.