A FAMILIAR PATH

I first became aware of AT WAR WITH SELF back in 2006, quite early in my discovery of Prog. It was that FATES WARNING connection, as that band was my gateway into our adventerous music. And Mark Zonder the great drummer for FATES WANING was on the kit for that AT WAR WITH SELF debut. So that's why I picked it up. This band is led by multi- instrumentalist Greg Snelwar, who I became aware of through the 1998 debut of GORDIAN KNOT. Sean Malone, Ron Jarzombek, Sean Reinert, Trey Gunn and John Myung were all part of that masterpiece.

They were a trio on that debut with Michael Manring adding bass and e-bow. "A Familiar Path" is album number three and they are down to a duo with Greg adding guitar, keyboards, programming and mandolin. Plus we get Manfred Dikkers on drums. It's a very interesting listen this album with those very heavy sections along with acoustic and mellow sections. The mandolin is prominent and brings a nice flavour to the proceedings. Greg does sing on a couple of tracks and we get backing female vocals too on one of those songs.

Snelwar was active with this project during the second half of the 00's with three studio albums before a six year break and the last last we heard from them was that 2015 album where they are a duo but with Marco Minnemann on drums. That record features a ton of short tracks. Twenty four I think over 50 minutes or so. "A Familiar Path" is an impressive album to listen to. The sound quality is perfect, and we get some variety. I'm not over the moon about it, I just really enjoyed spinning this cd all last week.

It's unusual for me to say the shortest track is my favourite song on any album, but here that's the case. The 2 1/2 minute "Ether Trail" is an intense piece with crushing bass and incredible drumming. I wish it was 10 minutes long. I do like the title track a lot. It's melodic and uplifting with Greg singing. Some harmonies too, and I like the warmth I feel. The closer "Hope" is a nice mellow way to end the album, but not a favourite. "Etude No. 10" is a favourite though. A really impressive piece where it starts out acoustic but after 1 1/2 minutes the electricity comes on along with drums. Nice and heavy.

And there is some really intense sections on here, lots of power at times like on "Concrete And Poison" and "Diseased State". "Ourselselves" is an interesting track with almost a Spanish vibe with that opening guitar, then Greg sings but it's processed with backing female vocals. We get strings and heaviness too. Some uplifting moments as well. I also really like the mandolin on that opener "Reflections".

A solid album that I can't rate less than 4 stars, but at the same time this isn't something I can do without.

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