Rock/Fusion/Metal
www.lasercd.com
www.glennsnelwar.com
www.manthing.com
www.markzonder.com
Ok, THAT will be an album for those music fans who are very open-minded. No easy listening music. Basically very progressive, but united with jazz and fusion and a bit of rock – I said: A BIT of rock and ready ist Torn between dimensions. 10 songs that partly make me wanna use valerian.
And you should have a lot of that heavy weight, there is no singer at all. The band is: Glenn Snelwar (Gordian Knot), Michael Manring and Mark Zonder (known from Fates Warning), who call themselves AT WAR WITH SELF.
Already with the first song The god interface the writer is thinking: Nice intro and with song No. 2 (Torn between dimensions) she is guessing: Let´s see, when the singer is going to start. But after she couldn´t recognize a singer in the middle of that song, she thinks about all evil and she is right with that: instrumental. Good, I have to go through it and so I am listening to the rest of it, anyway… But in two periods, because you can listen to that music until the half of the CD. And until there it has been a very stoney way. Because my legs want to do one thing, when listening to that: running away. Well, ok, I don´t want to be like that and so I am listening to that better jam session of the three guys. But there doesn´t want to be a way to my mind and it doesn´t want to go up like a rocket. In the meanwhile I am running that CD for the 4th time, trying it with the 5th time. But no, I cannot find many good things on the album, although there are a few interesting moments. But those are very rare.
The debut album of the three musicians is something for the hardcore jazz freaks between us. Because I cannot find metal at all. The one-two guitar riffs doesn´t count. This is an album for all the fusion guitar teachers (why do I have to think of my old guitar teacher??), but it is also an album that brings together many music styles.
One advantage of the whole thing: Because of the missing singer, the work of Michael Manring is shining. This guy works with this fretlass bass with fast fingers. The drum sequences of Mark Zonder needs extraordinary talent, in opposite to guitarist and bandleader Glenn Snelwar, who seems to be a bit bored through the album.
Definitely not the music for metalheads.
Tracklist
The god interface – 4:04
Torn between dimensions – 5:57
A gap in the stream of mind part one – 4:11
Grasping at nothing – 5:22
Coming home – 5:30
The event horizon – 5:18
A gap in the stream of mind part two – 7:45
Run – 3:04
A gap in the stream of mind part three – 1:37
At war with self – 7:17
Line-up
Glenn Snelwar – electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, e-bow, keyboards & string section programming
Michael Manring – fretless bass and e-bow
Mark Zonder – drums and percussion