PANZERBALLETT

Ladies and Gentlemen; metal jazz-fusion couldn't be any better than this.

This album is sure to please fans of metal and jazz alike. Crunching power chords a la Meshuggah in the same piece of music featuring lush passages of jazz harmonics, modes and feel. I get up my chair whenever the band shifts styles, from thrash metal to modern jazz fusion and funk jazz; it's a very tasteful contrast of musical interests without sacrificing musicianship.

I believe the one that stands the most in this record is Gregor Bürger's great sax dynamics (perhaps not the best tone compared to monsters like Joe Henderson or Michael Brecker, but still some great improvs.), whilst the rest of the band is not far behind, including Flo Schmidt on bass providing an irresistible groove along with Max Bucher on drums, who appears to be another Cobham-influenced drummer. Jan Zehrfeld is the undisputable creative force and leader of the band, and a guitar player whose influence is undeniably a mix of Holdsworth and Mike Stern; however, his guitar playing was a bit conservative, and I wouldn't go as far as to say that he shares the talent and dynamics of people like Fareed Haque or Frank Gambale; nonetheless it's effective as we take a listen to the final product, which was a total archievement in fusion music.

5 stars; no less than that.

Very funky metal infused jazz fusion.

PANZERBALLET have produced probably one of the best fusion albums I've heard as it features a lot more diversity, experimentation and structure than a lot of the fusion I have encountered. Many of the songs venture into fairly metallic territory but this is mainly just distorted crunchy guitars and riffs (with the odd bitchin' metal solo), it's usually contrasted by the wailing sax, groovy bass and syncopated drums and it didn't actually take notice of it at first until it was mentioned to me and I realized it was definitely there. The atonal sections are mostly played out with clean jazzy instrumentation feels as opposed to metallic ones.

The album is very solid and it never really wanes throughout but there are some definite highlight tracks, Opener 'Zehrfunk' gets things off to a strong start it's a very fast paced and groovy number with some great jazzy moments and some atonal breakdowns and overall funky groove. 'Iron Maiden Voyage' is another great track, quite metallic with a great main motif and harmonised guitar riff and a wailing sax solo to break it up before a shredding fusion solo to end. 'Zickenterror' ends the album on a high, a very frenetic and technical song with a ring modulated freakout solo in the middle.

PANZERBALLET is a very worthwhile album to fans of fusion who don't mind the touch of metal, it's very groovy and upbeat and holds your attention for great lengths of time.

This has got to be one of the most fun listens I've had in a while. Panzerballett plays a whimsical jazz- metal fusion. When you think of metal jazz fusion, I hope you think of Planet X if its not Panzerballett. While Planet X is cosmic and very difficult to pick apart, Panzerballett is down to earth and easy to delve into. Planet X is still the ultimate in this style, but they should look out, because Panzerballett is bringing something new and delightful to the table where bands bring intangible things.

The band's self-titled debut is a set of fast-paced tunes that feature an excellent rhythm section and leads provided by a guitarist and a saxophonist. Most of the solos are smooth and tasty, often occuring during the jazzy sections. The grooves are unmistakably key in composing a good jazz/fusion tune, and these guys groove with gusto. The album grooves like the ones in my old drum skins. The riffs are often syncopated and they sound very good.

There is absolutely nothing to complain about with the individual tracks. The only fault on the disc is that each song more or less runs through the same formula, which makes them difficult to remember after going through the whole thing. I think the band can add a bit more flavor into their mix.

All in all, this is a fun-fest of an album, and one should have no regrets in adding it to their collection.

Very Enjoyable Modern Jazz Fusion

Panzerballett's self titled debut album is a mixture of funk, jazz, rock, and even a little bit of metal. The music is lively and fun, a great example of modern fusion. Hailing from Germany, the band uses sax, bass, guitar, and drums to make a nice stew of delicious instrumental music. Band leader Jan Zehrfeld plays the guitar very tastefully in a variety of styles, and his compositional skills are very good. He's not a shredder and in fact the band's biggest weakness is when he tries. (Everything is meticulously tight, but his speed runs sound forced and very basically scalar, a departure from the interesting note choice found in the composed elements).

Even though this project is really one man and the band he assembled to perform and record his material, the strength of the recording really lies in the ensemble itself. As mentioned, they are very tight and the various parts compliment very well. The combo lead voice of sax and distorted guitar is certainly not unique, but works very well here, especially given the heavy genres from which Zehrfeld draws for his guitar parts. Jan cites Meshuggah, Planet X, and a host of tech juggernauts as influences. This seems exceedingly odd, because this is only moderately technical music. There IS a great sense of syncopation which instead of giving the mathematical sensibility of the previously mentioned groups, adds (gasp!!!) GROOVE. In fact, the sense of humor, fun, and funk remind me more of Mr. Bungle (especially their lounge-y side) than Meshuggah.

I, for one, have been on an ongoing search for jazz-metal fusion where the jazz comes first and the metal second. Panzerballet is probably only the 2nd band I've found that has successfully accomplished this, the first one being the vastly superior Ohm. I would estimate that Zehrfeld's compositional skills match Ohm's, but that the individual players are light years behind Chris Poland's combo. I would also offer that Panzerballett has a much younger, light-hearted funky attitude than the veterans of Ohm, and that there are times that PB's sound is just what I'm needing.

I have no trouble recommending this disc to anyone, and there's not that many bands out there making this kind of music (jazz-metal fusion). At the same time, there is absolutely nothing here that hasn't been done before, and nothing about the individual playing that is beyond what you can find in any major city's local scene. It's a 6-7/10 album that translates to a good but non-essential work here.

From the band's official website: ''An innovative, hard 'n' heady mixture of jazz, funk and metal, crossing complex polyrhythms with metal guitar riffing, funky grooves and jazz improvisation: Bang your head with brains''!!!

After this sensational description by the band itself I feel there is not much to say! I believe this is really a metal band, however there is a part of them that really enjoys jazz/fusion. Saying that, in this first album, PANZERBALLETT are exploring more the pathways of jazz/funk/fusion rather than metal. Although there are plenty of moments that resemble to extreme progressive metal, I feel the saxophone solos are overtaking this situation...

Combining Meshuggah-like rhythms with pure jazz is not the easiest thing in prog or music in general but these guys quite succeed. Although the guitar and the saxophone are the instruments that dominate the sound, the - often funky - bass is really outstanding and provides the ideal background for the others to improvise. Iron Maiden Voyage (no relation to Iron Maiden whatsoever) is the highlight track where this previous sentence definitely applies.

The album consists of 8 ''proper'' compositions (plus a short 'fun' track), filled with lots of guitar and sax improvisation and continuous rhythm changes, while the main themes are repeated after many minutes within the same track to provide some sense of structure. Another element that struck me is the enormous speed of some compositions - something that makes them almost impossible to follow and to comprehend.

It is hard to deliver a track-to-track review for this extraordinary (in many aspects) album. There are quite a lot of brilliant moments here and surely both fans of jazz/fusion and technical metal will find interesting elements. At the same time, I feel this debut is a bit more eclectic than normal due to lots of improvisation and unexpected changes, so 3.5 stars is the fairest option...

Have you ever heard a PANZER DANCING? Well, if not, this is your chance!

PS. Many, many thanks to Dr. Heath for making this band known to me.