PINNACLE

"Who draws the line between singer and song? And what if they were one and the same all along?" This curiosity is central to Pinnacle's latest gem, To Whoever You Are Now. After a bit of foreshadowing in the prelude, the proper album leads with reflections on hate ["Flying Colors"] and love ["Because of You"] before going on to explore many shades in between.

Some of the ensuing storyline is veiled, with much of the lyrical focus on an individual's development through his trials and traumas. The protagonist is a once-idealistic dreamer who ends up questioning his place in the world after certain horrific events. One of the album's most important and poignant lines appears both as the final phrase of the prelude and at a key point in the title track: "Would the one you dream of being now dream of being who you are?" For a man who finds himself at multiple crossroads, this layered conundrum may be the crux of his narrative.

Musically, the band's sound contains elements of Marillion, Kansas, and Spock's Beard. The first of these stands out even more because Matt Francisco's voice often channels Fish, especially in its higher register. Karl Eisenhart's guitar work frequently steals the show; he is one of the best axe slingers on the contemporary scene, demonstrating not only virtuosity but also tasteful restraint, a quality that skilled players often lack. In addition, Karl's soulful singing lends a nice vocal counterpoint to Matt's. Yet everyone shines, with repeated listens revealing the intricacy and power of Greg Jones's monstrous drumming and Bill Fox's riveting bass lines. For me, one of the most exciting moments on the entire album happens around the 6-minute mark of "Because of You," when Greg's toms suddenly explode into an intense tribal rhythm that makes me want to leap from my seat and pump my fists in the air. (I confess that I'm somewhat disappointed when this infectious beat changes so soon.)

This masterwork is meant to be heard, and heard again. The music is dynamic and tight, the lyrics are intelligent and thought-provoking, and the overall sound is of a band truly discovering itself. Whoever you are, you should give this a listen.

Pinnacle is a heavy prog band from USA with four albums released so far. This band manage to capture my attention with their second album from 2006 named Meld. Energic and noodly heavy prog album with some great instrumental sections, and aswell the voice is pretty much ok. Pinnacle have their own sound I think even they are in same category with Tiles, Rush or Variant among others, almost same aproach in music with twisted tempo changes, some fine guitar works and quite intresting bass lines, very busy instrument . I also like a lot the drums, Greg Jones is very sure of his instrument creating some great chops. They add a new musician in the line up since previous album A blueprint for chaos - Matt Francisco who is responsable for vocal lines and aswell keybords. Well, to tell the truth this is a very worthy aqusition by the band with this new member , he add a new dimension the Pinnacle music creating a very solid heavy prog album with nice symphonic passages.. The music is engaging, full of intresting arrangements, powerful musicianship, colorful music for sure. The music is something between Kansas with heavy prog elements a la Rush, Tiles, very strong combination I might say. The voice of Francisco is very good being very similar with Steve Walsh tone, sometimes I have the impression I'm listning to Kansas. Pieces like opening track - Prelude/Flying Colors, 1001 Days, show a great potential this band has in today scene, they are active for more then 10 years now and every album is a winner in my book. To me, this is in same league with Meld album, but little less great then their previous one A blueprint for chaos who I found it to be their most mature and intresting album their released so far. Nice complicated instrumental passages, where the guitars and keyboards have an important role. A recommended album , this is definetly one of the better examples how must sound a heavy prog album these days. 3.5 stars from me, nice art work aswell, the album comes in digipak format and is a nice package. A strong band.

When I heard for the first time this album I thought " How this album passed by me completely unnoticed during almost ten years ? After this I read (with some surprise) in P A Discography section of the band , which this album shows the lowest quotation between their three releases until now ( I can't wait to hear the others !!! ) ..."In PINNACLE "Meld" the second album from this North-American band, released in 2006 at first audition my heart "smile" like if I have meet again dear old friends. I can say is, in this album I feel many influences mainly from the masters of 70's , from heavy-prog like, RUSH , LED ZEPPELIN , some "hints" of jazz -rock of JEFF BECK and Symphonic Prog like YES, KANSAS , etc... Besides this the music is actual because add to this "old" influences , the sound of another generation of progressive rock music in the "vein" of TILES, TRIUMPH and the pop new wave from THE POLICE. This" tapestry" of influences, don't sound like a cheap copy or a simply recall of any themes from the mentioned bands ! The track 1 "Information Overload" is cearly influenced by RUSH and their exceptional form to combine broken beats, bass/guitars frenetic duos and counterpoints. The track 2 "Alkways Somewhere Else" shows a LED ZEPPELIN'S slightly " shape, with remarkable bass guitar soft solo. The track 3 "Love In Our Hands" is a "sweet" ballad , full of filigrees: a exceptional acoustic guitar melody, some tuned percussions and a clear homage to YES (a bass melody starting 4 min 14 sec) with the first verses of "And You And I" ! The track 5 "Built For Speed" reminds JEFF BECK'S composition style , with RUSH's "nervous" bass/ guitar arrangements. The track 6 "The Deepest Sea" shows a overture and main theme with KANSAS's "moods" mixed whit SPOCK'S BEARD something of RUSH. The last track "The Life In A Year " receives a perfect title, due the recolection of almost all influences of the band . My rate is 5 Stars !!!!

Pinnacle is a heavy prog band from USA with three albums released so far. This band manage to capture my attention with their second album from 2006 named Meld. Energic and noodly heavy prog album with some great instrumental sections, and aswell the voice is pretty ok. Pinnacle have their own sound I think even they are in same category with Tiles, Rush or Variant, almost same aproach in music with twisted tempo changes, some fine guitar works and quite intresting bass lines, very busy instrument . I also like a lot the drums, Greg Jones is very sure of his instrument creating some great chops. They add a new musician in the line up - Matt Francisco who is responsable for vocal lines and aswell keybords. Well, to tell the truth this is a very worthy aqusition by the band with this new member , he add a new dimension the Pinnacle music creating a very solid heavy prog album.. The music is engaging, full of intresting arrangements, powerful musicianship, colorful music for sure. What I like on this third album released in 2012 named A blueprint for chaos is that with the addition of Matt Francisco the keyboards are more proeminent then ever befor in their music. The music is something between Kansas with heavy prog elements a la Rush, Tiles, very strong combination I might say. The voice of Francisco is very good being very similar with Steve Walsh tone, sometimes I have the impression I'm listning to Kansas. Even the album is long over an hour it doesn't contain any mediocre or boring moments, contrary has plenty of intresting arrangements well performed. Pieces like opening track - Some Just Sleep, Conductor, Long Black Car or .Somewhere Between show a great potential this band has in today scene, they are active for more then 10 years now and every album is a winner in my book. To me, this is better then predecesor Meld who was already a strong album in this scene but A blueprint for chaos definetly tops it on every aspect. Nice complicated instrumental passages, where the guitars and keyboards have an important role. A recommended album , this is definetly one of the better examples how must sound a heavy prog album these days. Easy 4 stars from me, nice art work aswell, the album comes in digipak format and is a nice package. A strong band,

Pinnacle's roots go back in 1997, when drummer Greg Jones met Karl Eisenhart in a coffee house, where he played acoustic music.His ''Steve Morse'' T-shirt was enough for Greg to speak to him and so begins the collaboration between the two men.Initially the played with bassist JP Capiello, who was soon replaced by mullti-instrumentalist Bill Fox.As with many bands, they started playing covers of Yes, Rush, Jethro Tull and other huge acts of the past, before putting together material for an original release.They recorded their debut, meeting each other every Tuesday at EverythingToExcess Studios between November 02' and May 03, eventually releasing their first album ''A man's reach'' in 2003.

Pinnacle's sound is obviously influenced by the Power Rock of RUSH with a slight vibe from 70's US Heavy/Hard Rock and recalls modern acts such as TILES, BOLUS or ENCHANT.The style of the trio is strongly based on Eisenhart's/Fox'es guitars with little use of synths here and there to create a more rich sound.Most of the tracks are quite groovy with strong riffs, plenty of changes and interesting solos in mid-length and quite accesible forms.The atmosphere ranges from aggressive to slightly spacey, exploring also the territories inbetween.Vocals are also decent, without being anything close to mindblowing.Good thing is Pinnacle's compositions are fairly memorable despite the diverse guitar stylings.On the other the hand the production sounds a bit flat and this guitar-driven style seem to need sometimes a breeze of fresh air.Notice the lovely cover of Jethro Tull's ''Minstrel In the Gallery'' as the closing composition of this album.

RUSH-inspired Power/Prog Rock is what Pinnacle have to offer in this first effort of the trio and what they do, they do it really good.Recommended, especially if you love strongly guitar-led still challenging material.

Pinnacle is a heavy prog band from USA with two albums released so far. This trio manage to capture my attention by their second album from 2006 named Meld. Energic and noodly heavy prog album with some great instrumental sections, and aswell the voice is pretty ok. Pinnacle have their own sound I think even they are in same category with Tiles, Rush or Variant, almost same aproach in music with twisted tempo changes, some fine guita works and quite intresting bass lines, very busy instrument on this album. I also like a lot the drums, Greg Jones is very sure of his instrument creating some great chops. Even the album is long over an hour it doesn't contain any mediocre or boring moments, contrary has plenty of intresting arrangements well performed. The forte pieces are definetly the opening track Information Overload - 10 min of pure bliss, engaging moments , powerful musicianship. Another worthy piece is the instrumental Built For Speed another great tune that shown how great is the guitar parts. Some sporadicaly and well integrated in the overall sound are the keybords, who has a second role here after the guitar but some nice passages are on The Deepest Sea. The album ends with an epic of nearly 19 min of good playing intresting ideas and top notch production. Talking about production the album was mastered, mixed and produced by Shadow Gallery bass player Carl Cadden James with the help from the band. Really nice album that desearves from me 3-3.5 stars.