ELECTRIC FOREST

Gekko Projekt, a band from Southern California, on this, their first album, plays a tasty set of melodic rock/jazz fusion (leaning mostly toward the rock side), with an ample helping of prog sensibilities.

The songs, mostly intrumentals, remind me a bit of Eric Johnson's smooth style, although with more rhythm and chordal changes. The musicianship is competant, although the serious fusion fan will not be blown away by the performances. I do appreciate the well thought out tones used by Peter Matuchniak's guitars and Vance Gloster's keyboards.

the only song that feels out of place is one of the few vocal tunes, Black Hole. This is a straight ahead rocker, with vocals reminiscent of Vincent Fournier (Alice Cooper), in his earlier days.

Otherwise, this is a cool album for playing in your car on a warm day with the windows down.