AXON-NEURON

AXONS: "the long threadlike part of a nerve cell along which impulses are conducted from the cell body to other cells." NEURONS: "a specialized cell transmitting nerve impulses; a nerve cell."

AKRON: "Summit, or High Point"

My chief associations with Akron, Ohio, would have been Goodyear Tires, and Dr. Bob, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Now, it must include AXON-NEURON, a musical enterprise I discovered thanks to other progressive rock fanatics, who are as determined (sometimes more so) to ferret out exquisite exemplars of this genre, as am I.

JEREMEY POPARAD

Jeremey provided lyrics and music, and surrounded himself with other excellent musicians- plus orchestra- to present "Metamorphosis".

In my books, that makes him the mastermind. His concerns seem to be wide-reaching and a meld of pure mathematics, sciences like chemistry and biology, philosophy, psychology, and of course transformation.

MELDING and CONNECTING

The music for example brings together flavors and influences like contemporary classical, jazz and jazz-fusion, progressive rock, progressive metal, and experimental forms. Elsewhere someone used the term "Symphonic Progressive Rock", but I disagree. The use of orchestra as key component in preludes and postludes aside, there is minor orchestration in a few tracks as well.

Rather, this seems to be Crossover or Eclectic Progressive Music, yet another melding example.

LYRICS

For me the French phrase "bon mot", in the sense of "well-chosen words", comes to mind. Among the lyrics there are many such, of which this is but one example, from track 13, "Keepsakes": "To bound forth from the past/ Without being bound to the past/ Guided, not governed, by our ghosts."

I was struck too with Jeremey's ability to capture the conundrums, contradictions, and paradoxes of being a living, breathing, thinking person. In Track 12, "Summit", the protagonist labors, terrified, to the summit, glories in the achievement, only to realize there are countless more challenging mountains ahead.

MELDING LYRICS and MUSIC

Here was another sign of the genius of this two-disc work: Lyrics and music worked hand-in-hand to achieve an outcome of musical wholeness. The use of vocalist Amanda, with her sometimes whispering, sometimes longing, sometimes aching timbres helped guide that wholeness.

Yet each instrumentalist and backing vocalist was superb. There were fiery, intense passages driven by the intricate work of drums, 8- and 6-string guitars and bass, alongside jazzy piano and keyboards that tastefully complemented the moods presented.

IN SUM

A remarkable, essential progressive rock production from AXON-NEURON.

CD1 1. "Prelude I" (6:28) is a classical music composition performed by acoustic orchestral instruments. (9/10)

2. "Euclid" (4:31) opens with harp-like arpeggi before a metal band orients us in a different direction. Djenty yet melodic, we are quickly introduced to the Amy DARBY-like vocal stylings of singer Amanda Rankin. The song breaks into several sections, though all continue to revolve around variations of the central arpeggiated chord progression from the intro. Brilliant! (9/10)

3. "Suspicions" (5:48) again structures itself around variations on a gentle four-chord jazz progression that is established in the opening--which is beautiful and hypnotic. Amanda's vocals here are her first attempt to get grungy--which doesn't work very well. Her voice is too pure and crystalline to rough up. Still, the song has many memorable and haunting elements that make it rise above the mis-matched vocal choices. Nice drumming and keyboard work on this one. (9/10)

4. "Shattered" (5:58) opens with plucked bass and upper octave piano play setting up for Amanda's delicate vocal. The song shifts into second gear at the one minute mark, and then into third with full band and orchestral instruments shortly thereafter. Nice jazz guitar leads throughout the song. The arpeggiated piano chord progression is quite lovely, quite engaging. Amanda's melody line, as well. At 3:20 things shift into a heavier gear. Nice! I find realizing that I wish Amanda's vocal had been mixed differently in the sonic field--more full and slightly forward. Nice electric guitar soli at the end of the fifth minute. This could be a masterpiece! (9/10)

5. "Koan" (3:42) opens with some nice acoustic guitar picking, over which Amanda begins singing in her upper registers. Quite lovely. As the full band and orchestral instruments join in I am definitely feeling the genius of this "big band" approach. This is a classy old-time jazz song with some modern instrumental twists. In fact, it is the orchestral strings and not the vintage and modern rock/jazz instruments that steal the show on this one. One of my favorites! (10/10)

6. "Eyes" (6:04) for the first two minutes contains some trip-hoppy drum sequences playing beneath the more constant presence of some floating plucked guitar chords and Amanda's singing. Then the music breaks into a more jazz-metal flow with lots of picking, plucking of strings while Amanda continues doing her Amy DARBY thing. At 4:00 the weave begins to sound like a DEVY TOWNSEND wall while Amanda's now treated voice falls a little back in the mix. Dreamy! At 5:00 things return briefly to the more dynamic, voice forward sound, before falling back into the dreamy style to the song's end. (9/10)

7. "Erasure" (5:54) opens as a duet with Jeremey's picked electric guitar and Amanda's voice. At the one minute mark the song kicks into a more poppy, almost Latino style while Amanda continues her story telling in and interesting alternating middle and low voice style. The instrumental portion of the third minute finds a much more jazzy Latin-like style with the use of several more complicated time signatures. The final minute of guitar weaving sounds again like a milder, less processed version of DEVIN TOWNSEND. (9/10)

8. "Postlude I" (7:48) opens with synth strings and orchestra instruments playing a beautiful stop-and-go, flow- between-octaves song. Glockenspiel and woodwinds take the leads during the first two minutes, but then low range winds take over before oboe and violins take their turns. In the fourth minute French horn horn-led horn section next get their say. Bassoons, flutes, and clarinets get a turn around the five minute mark. Beautiful melodies and harmonies are presented and woven in and out of simple and many-layered weaves throughout the course of this gorgeous piece of music. (10/10)

Using the now institutional Fishermetrics, the first CD with a total time of 46:13 is alone worthy of the "masterpiece" status.

CD2 1. "Prelude II" (7:25) continues the previous disc's pattern by opening with a composition that is composed and performed by a full orchestra. Percussion and pulsing lower strings notes establish the almost PHILLIP GLASS foundation over which violins and woodwinds play their weave of melodies. A more Baroque sound establishes itself in the third minute before making way for a more theatric, liturgical sparsely instrumented sound around 3:30. AT 4:20 we are returned to the more modern sounds and structures of the opening. It reminds me of NORTH SEA RADIO ORCHESTRA's "Berliner Luft" or "Mitte der Welt." Beautiful piece! (10/10)

2. "Silence" (7:23) opens with warmly picked electric guitar with accompaniment of trilling strings. The melody established feels quite theatric--as if we are getting ready to see an emotional love scene from Brigadoon or The King and I. Amanda's entry and presence confirms this as she gives us the warmest, most emotional performance of the album (thus far). The Post Rock-like drumming and full strings accompaniment are highlights, again. The piano solo in the fourth minute is too cheezy--over the top. Luckily Amanda's stunning performance helps us to quickly forget this. In my opinion, this is the first song in which the instrumental soli have negatively affected the overall outcome of the song, one in which the vocal could have been left to more sparse accompaniment. Amazing performance, Amanda. Amazing orchestral arrangement, Jeremey. Maybe that's all you should have concentrated on. (9/10)

3. "Kronos" (7:35) is my favorite song on the album. It has a WHITE WILLOW-FREQUENCY DRIFT like feel to it with Kashikura TAKASHI (TOE)-like drumming, CHICK COREA-like keyboard work, James Bond murder-mystery-like orchestration, and Amanda Rankin's beautiful vocal work (which, again, I find myself wishing were mixed more prominently into the soundscape). (10/10)

4. "Summit" (8:00) has the musical feel of a good OCEANSIZE song. This may be the best progressive rock song on the album. The guitar and bass interplay is remarkable for the precision of their 'conversations'. Neither the lyric nor the vocal add much; this could've been a great instrumental. (9/10)

5. "Keepsakes" (6:40) opens with some delicate percussion play into which a few sparse keyboard and guitar noises and/or chords are mixed. A delicate, slow, breathy vocal by Amanda Rankin ensues which is mirrored, note-for- note, by a heavily chorused lead electric guitar. Crazed jazzy electric piano play is going on beneath. Brilliant song! So unique and unusual! Psychedelic. On display here is yet more of diversely creative genius of everyone of these musicians and songwriters. Amazing! (10/10)

6. "Kafka" (7:43) is the only song that really doesn't work for me--and this is true on multiple levels. There are so many things going on, so many different styles and sounds, and, for some reason, they just don't gel as well as one would hope. A bit like a Dan Britton (CEREBUS EFFECT, DELUGE GRANDER, BIRDS & BUILDINGS, ALL OVER EVERYWHERE) song: Proggy but a little too esoteric. (7/10)

7. "Eulogy" (4:53) gets the prog back on track with a nice prog ballad in the Bill GILLHAM/CIRRUS BAY style. (9/10)

8. "Postlude II" (8:13) closes the second album out with another classical piece. Performed by orchestra, this one opens in a kind of DELIUS/ELGAR/BRITTEN pastoral style before detouring into a full-on blues-rock dirge--a folky version of a Clapton song, perhaps. Beautiful metaphor for the stylistic melange that is the entirety of this beautiful album. Well done, Ohio! (Nice vocal, Amanda! Nice guitar lead, Ryan! Amazing composition, Jeremey!) (10/10)

A stunningly original and mature album. I consider this a veritable masterpiece of eclectic and/or symphonic progressive rock and yet I can see where this band and its composer/producer have room to grow. Can't wait to see what they bring in the future!

Without question this is a five star album; a masterpiece of progressive rock music.