RELOCATOR

Relocator is the name of this jazz-prog-metal project from Germany instigated by guitarist Stefan Artwin and bassist Michale Pruchnicki in the early years of the new millennium. Now, after a long recording process, 2010 has seen the reality of the band's debut album, Relocator being an ensamble of guitar, bass, drums and violin plus a special guest on keyboards named Derek Sherinian. His particular contributions on keyboard orchestrations, moods and solos enhance the already existing influences from Planet X for the band's basic sonic framework; other notable influences come from LTE, CAB and Tribal Tech. even though it is not the most featured instrument, Strycharski's violin input becomes very relevant for the overall sound whenever it appears, stating a tight closeness with Tsuboy's style (from KBB, Pochakaite Malko and others). The first 6 ¼ minutes in the album are occupied by 'Red Vibes', a vigorous exhibition of catchy musicality, not exempted of nuance and mood variations along the way. 'Biosphere' bears a typically Planet X-like swing, which supposedly helps to enhance the jazz tjing in the band's nuclear proposal. The eponymous third track sounds like a mixture of a tribute to CAB and a homage to Tribal Tech: basically, it retakes the catchy mood of track 1 and gives it a slightly heavier approach. On the other hand, the shift on a 5/4 tempo right after minute 2 brings a typically progressive interlude that most certainly spices things up for the track's melodic development. 'Aavishkar' honors its exotic title and displays effective Arabic moods: the fusion elements are now in full swing, with a particularly excited guitarist who delivers influences from Holdsworth, MacAlpine and Satriani in an elegant fashion. '13 Reasons' and 'Urban Blue' retake the central moods already provided by the first three pieces, even reinforcing the prog-metal stamina: some powerful allusions to LTE are thinly veiled in '13 Reasons'. By now, the band's architecture has become a common ground, so it is only convenient that the album should end on a epic note, which is where the closer 'The Alchemist' settles in. starting with a cosmic intro on bass, guitar and synth, soon the main body delivers a semi-slow heavy motif that states an atmosphere of dark solemnity. Little by little, things get more colorful, which boosts guests Sherinian into playing what is arguably his best solo in the album. A few second before the 4 minute mark, the piece enters a passage of warm nuances, a proper circumstance for the violin's evocative entry. Once the prog-metal factor reenters the scene, the track acquires its maximum epic splendor and is not willing to let go of it at all, not even during the eerie coda that fills the piece's last 2 ½ minutes. A very good album this is, and Relocator is a band to pay close attention to in forthcoming releases: even though the roads of jazz-prog-metal ere being well-trodden throughout the world, this band shows enough musical proficiency in its compositional input as to sound refreshing all the way.