PARADIGMS

Guitarist Shant Hangopian did it again with his band Semantic Saturation on the follow up album named Paradigms issued not long ago 20 august 2018. As I said on their first album, that this is an intresting new band on a prog jazz metal scene, I'm saying again that Paradigms really smoke from start to finish. A bunch of helping musicians here again, besides usual friend Derek Sherinian, we have famouses Alex Argento on keys, Kristoffer Gildenlów (ex-Pain Of Salvation) on bass, Crain Blundell (Frost/Steven Wilson) on drums and as vocalist jazz singer Houry Dora Apartian on only single number of the album Empty Whiskey Jar. Well, the musicianship is impressive as the music who is is top notch a kind of prog metal meets jazz fusion, Hagopian delivers a perfect belent between simple/complex, the music is very fluent, each piece is realy something, . The arrangements are as I said when little simple, when complex as hell, but each time Hagopian really knew to make the music quite beautiful and intresting from start to finish. In places is little more prog metal and less fusion as on previous release, but is not a bad thing of course. I like a lot the druming Blundell is a really tight and inspired performer and has some intresting chops, just to be checked among other the opening Mirrors of Confusion. The duelings between guitar and keybords are fantastic, the sound is crystal clear, the compostions top notch, what else a total winner in my book. So, all in all another worthy relese by this fantastic guitar player, Paradigms stands as solid as the debut, maybe little, just little less intresting in parts as Solipsistic. Again intresting art work , CD in digipak format. 3 solid stars, 3.5 stars to be more sure, worth to be investigated by anyone intrested in good prog jazz metal.