I previously reviewed a set from the Gerald Gradwohl Group. That set was pretty diverse in terms of sound. This one probably lives closer to one zone of sound, but that zone has hard rock and fusion in the mix along with more pure prog. As much as that album was probably more diverse, I think this is stronger. Besides, it is never really lacking in variety, and it certainly never feels redundant.

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A meaty rock guitar riff gets things going here. The song turns toward some freaky funk, and horns bring the jazz to the forefront. Some different side-trips lend different flavors from reggae to hard rock. The guitar soloing later gets so amazingly crazed. This whole thing is on fire.

Mellower and more melodic and slightly understated as it gets underway, the guitar soloing over the top has a real Satriani or Vai feeling to it. This is on the less frantic and restrained side compared to the two tracks that preceded it, but that doesn't mean it's without fire. It's packed full of passion. There is some awesome bass soloing that takes command further down the road. We get more killer guitar soloing further down the road, too.

A voice says something to start this, but since it's not in English, I'm not sure what they it said. The cut fires out from there with fierce jam band meets fusion rocking. This is another that has some hints of things like Satriani and Vai. It's also another powerhouse with a killer groove to it. It drops later to a somewhat mellower movement, but also turns out to a rocking percussion driven movement. The bass gets to really shine as it comes out of that section of the track.

They bring the funk with a vengeance on this killer jam. It's another has some of that Satriani and Vai sort of feel to it. It gets some nearly spoken vocals, lending more of that funky feeling. After the music stop some yelling in another language can be heard in the background.

More on the mellow side, this is understated, but still features some killer jamming. Both guitar and bass get to really show a lot of virtuosity on this piece. At over seven minutes long, this is the epic of the set. When it turns a bit more energized later, the funk and fusion are in fine form. It reminds me to some degree of Al Di Meola on that movement. That's high praise from me.

This comes in hard rocking and edgy. It's definite on the metallic prog end of things as it does. There are bursts of more pure fusion as it drives forward. This gets seriously fierce and moves more toward the fusion end of the spectrum later. This also includes a percussion solo, part of it unaccompanied.

While the guitar is the main attraction here with its guitar-God sort of groove, the percussion is on fire, and the jam band meets fusion groove works really well.