— First review of this album —

The Japanese band's sophomore album--released in the same year as their debut but feeling quite different.

1. "Take Me" (4:19) sounds like a song by JOE SAMPLE or TOTO's "Georgy Porgy." (8.75/10)

2. "Flying" (4:51) incredible bass play beneath syrupy Yacht Rock/Smooth Jazz. I'm not liking the new tone that the electric guitarist is using. (8.75/10)

3. "Dune" (4:51) a slowed down variation on/version of JOE SAMPLE's "Midnight and Mist" from his 1979 album, Carmel. (8.75/10)

4. "Asayake" (5:05) competent but does little to engage me. (8.75/10)

5. "I Love New York" (4:08) anthemic song with vocoder lyrics. Could've been a R&B radio hit. (8.875/10)

6. "Sailing Alone" (4:41) another melodic BOB JAMES-like Smooth Jazzer that feels a bit too familiar. (8.75/10)

7. "Olion" (3:20) now here we have some high-powered Jazz-Rock Fusion in the RTF J-LP tradition! Great song with some astounding individual performances. (9.25/10)

8. "Magic Ray" (4:42) like a late 1970s cover of some syrupy/romantic radio hit. (8.5/10)

9. "Mighty Mouse" (3:09) disco funk jazz with some excellent structure, synchronization, and horn support but it's still sounding more and more like Florida lounge jazz. (8.75/10)

Total Time 39:06

The band's slide further into the realm of Smooth Jazz renders this album far inferior to their debut--this despite continued great compositional skill and virtuosic musicianship.

B/four stars; a very nice exhibition of instrumental mastery given away to Smooth Jazz.

Turbulence with a very good 3rd album.

'Static Mind' minimalist intro, Leprousian synth, oriental air, a little electronic to set the stage with a refined vocal before 'Theta' tumbles in, yes that's the word with a djent riff; Omar's haunting vocals and nervous shredding paired with the complex melody; this mixture of softness and brutality is stunning, the ambient break before the return of synths and guitars which squirt, which swell; the slap launching 'Time Bridge' and its provided instrumental, between djent riff and violins; the suite fusing metal with oriental sounds is pure joy; 'Manifestations' follows with Alain and Mood setting fire to the guitar and keyboard in staggered fashion; complex, varied, energetic piece between Dream Theater and Haken for a modern prog metal full of musical amphetamines including a dreamlike jazz-metal sequence; airy, robotic, aggressive final break before starting again with captivating choirs and letting 'Ternary' close this Dantesque introduction in 5 phases; Omar returns smoothly on soothing crystalline guitar; warm choirs, pleasant guitar solo and the final crescendo on Morgan's pads which take it to a stunning musical level.

'Binary Dream' eponymous title in memory of a musical theater; heavy sound, heavy bass in mid-tempo, Hakenian air, we hear Woody; fresh, young, captivating piece, smelling of oriental, powerful djent; the stacked breaks give a swirling synth solo before another oriental full of sensitivity, on the Balkans; a jazzy moment then the sound returns to the intimate vocal-keyboard climate, it regains strength with a velvety Floydian sound before the finale, slap. 'Hybrid' modern electro intro, bass, energetic drums and shredding for a nervous, heavy track; ambient break and his guitar solo from 1001 nights. 'Corrosion' for the ballad of the album, orientalized acoustic guitar with moving spleen; reminiscence of a slow Scorpions, an Eagles intro; Omar takes it up a notch by offering a Purplenian hard rock mantra. 'De Erosion' for the happy ending instrumental, crystal clear sound of an Oceansize to settle down.(4.5)

The debut album from this excellent Second Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion band from Japan--here enlisting the help of established American artists Randy and Michael Brecker and David Sanborn on the first and last songs.

1. "Time Limit" (3:07) man! what a bass player! Tetsuo Sakurai can play! Not a big fan of the David Sanborn horn section though. Still, it's good enough to earn its place as one of my top three favorites on the album. (9/10)

2. "Tears of the Star" (4:32) sexy, sultry Smooth Jazz. On this song it's the acoustic guitarist, Minoru Mukaiya, that gets to shine (though Tetsuo also gets to wow us some more). The synth chord sound and progressions in the second half are so saccharine, leading into a whole melodramatic passage for the finish. Would have been great on General Hospital to go along with the Luke and Laura melodrama going on at the time. (8.875/10)

3. "Space Road" (5:14) opens as an exercise in a certain chord progression by the bass and electric piano before the drummer (Takashi Saski) takes off in another direction at a whole different speed--leading the electric guitarist with him before convincing the bassist to follow as well. Very interesting! Ends up feelin and sounding more like something from Jean-Luc Ponty's dynamic lineup of the same time period. Excellent stuff! Defintely my favorite song on the album. (9.5/10)

4. "Midnight Rendezvous" (5:20) expressing the usual high standard of musicianship, it's just that the music doesn't really excite or bring me in. (8.75/10)

5. "Far Away" (3:55) more akin to something by The Crusaders, Bob JAMES, or even Barry White's LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA. It's very pretty but approaching golf theme or even elevator music. I do love the Joe SAMPLE-like piano work. (8.6666667/10)

6. "Swallow" (4:24) another song that sounds like one of the USA's West Coast jazz collaborations--like Tom Scott, Lee Ritenour, Dave Gruisin, or the like. Nice synth solo in the second minute, electric guitar in the third, and, of course, excellent (even astonishing) bass play. Got to give this one high marks despite its shlocky main melody and overall sound palette. A top three song. (9/10)

7. "Dream Hill" (5:39) EARTH WIND AND FIRE pop funk?! With even background vocals. Not what I was ever expecting! Guitar leads the melody parade before vocal choir joins in. (8.5/10)

8. "Black Joke" (4:17) jazz-funk that feels and sounds like 1980 with THE CRUSADERS, LARRY CARLTON/LEE RITENOUR, GEORGE BENSON, or DAVID SANBORN (which is more than a coincidence since David performs on this song). Beautiful and impressive but so dated. (8.75/10)

Total Time 36:28

This music is so pretty, so upbeat and happy, and so refined and virtuosic that it can only be Second Wave j-r fusion.

B/four stars; an excellent album of melodic and funky Second Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion from Japan. Highly recommended for any prog rock lover in order to experience the work of these skillful (and soulful) musicians!

This Swedish house band recorded this album live in the studio on a two-track tape recorder!

1. "Myror I Köket" (11:45) Very brave and unique jazz-rock fusion with electric foundation and great Spanish/Latin- sounding trumpet play. Very engaging foundation and rhythm track as well. A delightful downshift at 5:40 allows space in the upper end for flute to be heard. Too bad these guys didn't get a few more chances to practice and refine this (or have multi-tracks for overdubbing). (23/25)

2. "Elhamokk" (9:45) the drumming is excellent, the coordinated delivery of lines and chords by the rest of the band quite extraordinary--like the synchronic timing of a big band. For some reason I hear a very strong hint of both Spanish and Balkan melodic traditions in this music. I also feel a bit of the high school band class in the performances- -which makes the song get a little old and dull over it's ten minute length. (17.333333/20)

3. "Halvvägs Hildur" (19:00) has quite a Mwandishi-era Herbie Hancock feel to it with its sprawling length and excellent solos from guitarist Olof Söderberg and trumpeter Tommy Adolfsson (along with the consistently impressive drumming of Michael Lindqvist). Still hard to believe this was all recorded live, in one take, with no layering or overdubbing. The stylistic shift in the eighth minute into a more drummer-driven cruise machine makes a big difference in its power and engageability. Nice electric piano work and accents from the horn section. Again, the drumming is most impressive: it feels like a cross between Billy Cobham and Tony Williams. A full stop-and-shift in the 11th minute turns into a more pregnant earworm of a rhythm track over which horns and electric guitar begin an attempt to carry a melody forward together. Lot's of angular riffs thrown into the spaces between phrases as the bottom cruises along unperturbedly. The end is a bit of a disappointment. I liked that middle section the best. (35/40)

4. "Flaxöras Hemliga Återkomst" (8:40) a song that takes a little too long with its drawn out introductory motif to develop and turn into anything interesting--and then turns out to be a little more avant-garde than expected. Too bad the rhythm track wasn't allowed to develop a little more. (17.25/20)

Total Time 49:10

Too bad these guys A) didn't stay together (the bulk of the band members did reappear for one song ["Peter Yogurt = Peter Yoghourt"] as Berits Halsband on a 1980 Ton Kraft Records compilation album entitled Levande Music Från Sverige = Live Music from Sweden), B) didn't have a quality studio, engineer and/or producer for this album, C) didn't have the chance to polish and perfect their music, cuz this is wonderful stuff! It's not as exciting or rock-dynamic as Return To Forever or Mahavishnu Orchestra--rather, more mellow and melodic as was the habit of much of the northern Continent at the time. Too bad the solid and engaging rhythm section (especially the bass) were often stifled into remaining so constant for so long.

B/four stars; an excellent if rather raw exposition of fresh though under-developed and under-polished Jazz-Rock Fusion.

— First review of this album —

"Wrath of the Gods" is the third full-length studio album by US, San Francisco based thrash metal/hard rock/heavy metal act Blind Illusion. The album was released through Hammerheart Records in October 2022. It´s been 12 years since the release of the bluesy hard rock/heavy metal oriented 2010 comeback album "Demon Master", which took a lot of fans off guard, and although a pretty good quality album in its own right, wasn´t exactly the triumphant comeback that Blind Illusion´s fans had hoped for. The "2018" EP (released in February 2019) showed promise and signs that Blind Illusion were moving toward playing thrash/heavy metal again, but it wasn´t until the release of pre-"Wrath of the Gods" album single "Straight as the Crowbar Flies" in September 2020 that the fans began to feel that magic was in the air again.

So does "Wrath of the Gods" deliver on the promise that the "Straight as the Crowbar Flies" single showed? Yes and more so is the answer to that...with the exception of former Death Angel drummer Andy Galeon who joined in 2020, the remaining members of the band have been together since 2017 and it´s audible that they are now a tight playing unit and they don´t only deliver sharp and heavy thrashy riffs and rhythms, they deliver them with great passion and conviction. The songs are generally well written, intriguing, and effectful, featuring sharp riffs, blistering melodic lead- and harmony guitar work, and the raw yet still melodic inclined vocals of Marc Biedermann. Sure he doesn´t have the most powerful or the most distinct sounding voice, but he is a good example of getting the most out of what you´ve got.

Stylistically Blind Illusion strike a good balance between thrash metal and heavy metal which artists like Megadeth, Death Angel, and Flotsam and Jetsam (and sometimes Testament) also excel in. So the hard-edged parts are always followed up by something a little less harsh and typically more melodic. "Wrath of the Gods" features a well sounding production job, and all instruments and vocals are audible and well balanced in the mix. So upon conclusion this is the "real" comeback release for Blind Illusion, and one can only hope they continue to travel down this road and deliver more high quality releases along the way. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

"Straight as the Crowbar Flies" is a single release by US, San Francisco based thrash metal/hard rock/heavy metal act Blind Illusion. The single was independently released in September 2020 to promote the forthcoming release of Blind Illusion´s third full-length studio album "Wrath of the Gods". It would be over two years before "Wrath of the Gods" saw the light of day, so "Straight as the Crowbar Flies" existed out there is a teaser for a long time.

"Straight as the Crowbar Flies" is a one-track digital single and the version which appears here is exactly the same version, which appears on "Wrath of the Gods", as the opening track on the album. It´s a powerful, intriguing, and both hard- edged and melodic thrash/heavy metal song, and it sounds very much like the material on Blind Illusion´s 1988 debut album "The Sane Asylum". So the fans who weren´t satisfied with the bluesy hard rock/heavy metal style of Blind Illusion´s 2010 comeback album "Demon Master", will most certainly find much more to appreciate here. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

— First review of this album —

"2018" is an EP release by US, San Francisco based thrash metal/hard rock/heavy metal act Blind Illusion. The EP was indpendently released in February 2019. It´s the follow-up release to Blind Illusion´s 2010 comeback album "Demon Master". "Demon Master" was the band´s first release in 22 years as they disbanded in 1992 after releasing their debut full-length studio album "The Sane Asylum" (from 1988).

"Demon Master" wasn´t a thrash metal comeback album though and instead features a bluesy hard rock/heavy metal style, but in 2013 lead vocalist/guitarist Marc Biedermann met other like minded musicians from the 80s thrash metal scene who convinced him to return to his thrash/heavy metal roots, and "2018" is therefore a much more thrash/heavy metal oriented release than "Demon Master" is.

It´s still not full-on aggressive thrash metal...actually far from it although Blind Illusion have re-recorded both "Metamorphosis of a Monster" and "Vengeance Is Mine", which both appeared on "The Sane Asylum". So stylistically this is an eclectic blend of hard rock, blues rock, heavy metal, and thrash metal. It´s a pretty adventurous EP and the overall sound is relatively unconventional. To my ears it works rather well though and as the sound production is decent too, this is a good quality EP release from Blind Illusion, fully showing how diverse they are in terms of their songwriting and performances. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

This album was released in 1970 and Tony McPhee the leader, composer, guitarist, singer etc. decided to take the blues based sound that they were known for on their previous two albums out of this one. The first half of this album which is four tracks are part of a suite dealing with alienness. Each song deals with alienness on different scales, the first in a community, the second in a small town, the third in a country and then fourth in the world. I have to say that this record along with the followup "Split" from 1971 are both must-haves as far as I'm concerned. Quite different from one another but both really impressed me.

That first track is pretty good especially the instrumental sections. A fairly heavy and determined sound. The second track is not that great, kind of a pale version of the opener. The next two songs to end the suite deal with war. Both are exceptional tracks. The album cover and especially the album's title would have been so controversial in 1970. A bold move and then John Peel starts playing that third track about soldiers with such meaningful and passionate words. An anti-war track that Peel would play regularly giving this band a huge spotlight. And what a song! No doubt there were many haters for this one but the lyrics are right on. The biting words and the way he says "...you know " after certain lines just works so well. The fourth one of the suite ends with a nuclear explosion but we get some walking bass and killer guitar as well. Such a good song.

The last five tracks don't quite measure up to the last two before it but this is a fairly consistent album and there's something about each of the last five that works for me. "Garden" might be my favourite of those for the lyrics and sound. The closer "Eccentric Man..." is little heavier and a little slower and quite catchy, a highlight. 4 stars.

Although Jesse Heikkinen appears to be part of fellow Finnish forest folkers HEXVESSEL no longer, it still seems that where Matt McNerney's project goes so goes ITERUM NATA...to a point. While "From the Infinite Light" is probably the heaviest offering to date from Heikkinen, neither its mass nor acceleration approach that of HEXVESSEL's "Polar Veil", which is a good thing. By weaving metallic fibers into the near orchestral "This Gleaming Eternity" and "A Manifested Nightmare", and solemn JOY DIVISION like reverence without the suicidal ideation into "A Darkness Within" and "Something Truly Almighty", this 5th album hits most high points of the group's career musically. The only problems are that the lyrics lack the beguiling lucidity of yore and too many rather ordinary or deja vu numbers ("Overture", "Ambrosia", "The Drifter") litter the rest of the output. It's not out of any disrespect that I round down here, but out of respect for what the band has already proven it can do better.

More of Toto Blanke's experimentation outside of his gigs with Pierre Courbois and Jasper Van't Hof and Joachim K'hn. The influence of John McLaughlin's MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA and SHAKTI project is quite obvious here as is the more recent sounds and songs of WEATHER REPORT (on bassist Norbert D'mling).

1. "Birds Of A Feather" (9:41) opening with some of the sequencing he was experimenting with on his two previous albums, the song moves into WEATHER REPORT territory. A little too uniform in sticking with one single motif throughout the song--which makes it hard to stay engaged over ten minutes, but very high quality musicianship throughout. (17.75/20)

2. "Asiento" (3:51) Trilock Gurtu's opening percussion barrage lets us know that we're in for a SHAKTI-like fusion of Eastern and Western traditions. Norbert D'mling's fretless bass is straight out of the JACO PASTORIUS school of bass. Very nice imitation with nocitceably loose and free feeling from all musicians. (9/10)

3. "Hallo J. (2:00) Toto's beautiful play on his steel-stringed acoustic guitar paired up with Norbert D'mling's wonderful Jaco Pastorius-like fretless bass Wonderful! Could've gone longer (for my tastes). (5/5)

4. "Billi (6:06) a Latin vehicle for some wild tenor sax play from Mat Nodolny. Stu Goldberg's mostly-two-chord support is a bit too forward and, therefore, obnoxious. In the fourth minute, Toto's electric (Roland?) jazz guitar gets the second solo. Lot's of unusual hand percussives and weird synth noises being thrown into the background (Trilock's contributions a little too far forward). (8.875/10)

5. "Floating (5:39) a high-speed cruise that has a lot of angular melody lines in its "Vashkar"/Mahavishnu-like sound palette. Exceptional musicianship on display, top to bottom. (9.3333/10)

6. "Winterlied (3:42) a duet between Stu Goldberg's MiniMoog and Toto's steel-stringed acoustic guitar. It opens as slow and ruminative duet of MiniMoog and gentle acoustic guitar chord picking before breaking down with some more flashy contributions from the acoustic guitar while the MiniMoog continues its melody-searching unphased. Reminds me of both SHAKTI and PAT METHENY. (9.25/10)

7. "I'm A Stranger Here Myself (8:00) very much like something from AREA's Crac!: "Nervi Scoperti" Excellent musicanship (as it would have to be to earn that comparison)! (13.75/15)

8. "Friends (Dedicated To T. Blanke)" (4:27) interesting Weather Report-like weirdness. Smooth and melodic, though. (8.875/10)

Total Time 43:26

I'm not sure why Stu Goldberg gets second billing unless he was integrally-involved in the composition department as his keyboard play serves more in a support role (except for "Winterlied").

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of a broad spectrum of wonderfully-performed jazz-rock fusion--one that could hold a candle to anything happening at the highest levels of fame, virtuosity, and sales marketing in the rest of the world.