Self-released
Release date: April 24, 2020
Album length: 43.34 min
Genre: Progressive Metal/Art Rock/Jazz Fusion
Rating: 10/10
Buy the album!
Michael Abdow is an American guitarist who not long ago became a permanent member of prog metal legends Fates Warning, and also lends a hand on the solo ventures of his Fates Warning buddy and singer Ray Alder. By the way, on January 23, 2018, that very same Michael rolled through Ljubljana’s Orto bar with Fates Warning. Well, outside his Fates Warning duties, Michael Abdow is also a wildly creative artistic soul. This year he recorded and released his fourth solo studio album, which he named “Heart Signal.” He made it so that it sounds like a band playing. So this isn’t an album where one person does everything. Michael was joined in this trio lineup by two top-class musicians: bassist Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder, Whitesnake) and drummer Shawn Deneault of Santa Mamba.
On this new self-released studio effort, this outstanding musical gem of a talent keeps deepening, widening and nurturing the expressive qualities of his previous three albums, holding onto a top-shelf standard of musical artistry dressed up in eclecticism. It’s an all-instrumental album of exceptional fusion, so cunningly stitched together from blended genre cues and a huge range of ideas that, despite its “loose and relaxed” feel, it ends up remarkably tight and listenable. The motifs, all the solo escapades and the endless playfulness of those constantly sparkling rhythmic breaks build an exceptional harmony between them. This record is manna from heaven for lovers of everything that smells of prog and speaks in a unique voice. Readers of this piece need some orientation, and given the necessary evil known as “pigeonholing,” the most credible tag to pin on this one is ‘art metal’ and ‘art rock album.’ Or, put bluntly, ‘expect the unexpected.’ It’s definitely a progressive release, strongly backed by jazz elements, neo-classical embellishments, even hints of world music. The blending of these elements is so seamless that, despite its technical complexity, the record has a remarkable degree of listenability and accessibility. In that respect, it can speak very kindly even to less demanding music fans.
“Heart Signal” is also an exceptional accumulation of pure adventure into the free-spirited world of brilliant fusion of motivic structures. It primarily comes across as an all-instrumental jam, yet one that’s written with extraordinary focus and concision, ruled by the absolute fine mechanics of filigree kinetics and precisely measured steps in stringing the structures together.
On this record Abdow makes it clear time and again just how venomously sharp his boundless aura of technical polish is. The development of ultrasonic speeds within the solo escapades is breathtaking at every turn. But his ego trip has no problems with that whatsoever. The guy keeps balancing those escapades with remarkable skill against listenable parts of the songs, where compact motifs are backed by extra programmed loops. Even more striking is the use of delay effects and motif memorization, with Michael stacking played layers on top of one another and so achieving gripping mood contrasts that reach a high level of mutual compatibility. Michael deepens the atmospheric grip further by dosing some motifs with lines of precisely measured notes which, supported by the tasteful use of sustain, build a wailing resonance, and in this way certain spots even reach a possible moment of cerebral esotericism (you have to know how to switch off your rational mind). When the guitars join those lines and the contrasting lines of the “fretless” bass come in, the effect is even more intense.
Abdow has Tony Franklin and Shawn Deneault at his side. “Heart Signal” is not a “one man band” album. This is a trio album! The energy and creative contributions of all three instruments come through as equals. The instruments complement each other in contrast and reach an exceptional level of mutual awareness. The fusion is “gigantic,” and so is the “groove” that comes from contrasting all three building blocks of the sound picture, each given equal space to express itself. In places the songs naturally drift further into jazz-rock fusion territory, like in the closing Nature Of Play, while in The Hand That Take, Abdow and his bandmates head back into prog metal landscapes, where the phrasing (in barely traceable crumbs) can even evoke some affinity with what Fates Warning do (although this time they’re light years away). All the songs reach an exceptional looseness, and the metal genre can be instantly swapped for jazz rock at the same spot (and vice versa). The album comes across as thoroughly eclectic, which is an added charm, since as a whole it’s hard to compare to anything. There’s no shortage of experimenting, and what’s especially masterful is that the trio tries out an endless array of different rhythmic keys, tied together by progressively fractured transitions. That’s the “progressive” criterion that never stops thrilling the listener and takes your breath away at every step of this release. Breathtaking in the sense that, even within strikingly complex structures, the trio still manages to create high cohesion. There’s no fragmentation. In all the experimenting, not a single spot “falls apart.”
Michael Abdow has ‘gotten out of his system’ an album that is – immodestly put – a top-tier achievement. It carries everything a more demanding music fan is looking for, and above all, in experimenting and fusion it hits a brilliant balance of technical complexity, gripping dynamics in stringing together mood swings, and a high degree of listenability. That’s something very hard to pull off on a progressive, art and jazz fusion (instrumental) album chasing a thrilling experiment. An album that rewards the listener the whole way through. With every new spin in the CD player.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Weight Of The World (12:16)
2. Heart Signal (04:49)
3. We Live Here (05:43)
4. Heavy Drifter (04:25)
5. The Hand That Takes (04:51)
6. Cherry Blossom Descent (04:08)
7. Synthetic Origins (02:21)
8. Nature Of Play (04:56)
Lineup:
Michael Abdow – guitar, keyboards, programming
Tony Franklin – “fretless” bass
Shawn Deneault – drums, percussion
