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11/17/04 Floyd at progressiveears.com said... Wow! That's all I have to say! But wait, there's more. This has got to be the surprise of the year for me. Many folks that participate on the message boards here on Progressive Ears are familiar with the very outspoken Chris Fox, more commonly known by his nickname "nosebone." A lot of us were aware of his band Helmet of Gnats, but what none of us would have thought has happened. In a secret laboratory in Stamford, Connecticut, Chris and his evil cohorts have created a monster! To set the record straight, Helmet of Gnats is not a new project by any stretch of the imagination. The name has been around since the early 80s when Chris and keyboardist Matt Bocchino led a band that did mostly Dixie Dregs covers. A lot has changed since those days, The Gnats have gone through numerous personnel and stylistic changes as many bands do. They even recorded their first self titled album in 1996. I listened to a few samples from that a while back; I don't remember exactly how good I thought they were but I'm sure that material wasn't nearly as smokin' as this new stuff is. The music on Helmet Of Gnats is some of the hottest fusion I've heard in a while. I don't know where my head was at when I first listened to the CD but after the first few tracks I had convinced myself the band was a Niacin clone but with guitar. I guess the flashy organ sounds from Matt may have helped in my forming that opinion (he doesn't break out the heavy synth stuff until a little later in the album.) After I got over the Niacin thing, I began to detect all sorts of influences in the music. The guitar playing is phenomenal and highly original to boot. I detect a few stylistic nods to Zappa, Holdsworth and some others in parts but overall Chris has a compelling presence on the guitar that is all his own. The rhythm section of Wayne Zito on bass and Mark Conese on drums is very tight and adds enormous strength to the overall sound. Wayne has some really cool fretless solo spots too; the one on "Misfit Toys" is really nice. Getting back to the keyboards for a bit, Matt Bocchino is a graduate of Berklee School of Music in Boston and his education has definitely paid huge dividends to the music here. You can tell one of his most obvious influences is Keith Emerson mainly by the types of sounds he uses; mainly organ and piano but there are also liberal amounts of synth textures too. There are also spots where he has a cool Chick Corea inspiration as well. You could probably play this CD to someone and tell them it came out in 1975 and they would be hard-pressed to doubt it. The band went to great lengths to record the album on all analog equipment and with spectacular results. The bass and keyboards sound totally fat and the guitar and percussion are crisp and crystal clear. The disc is a hybrid multichannel SACD that can be played on Super Audio CD players as well as regular systems. I haven't heard this on an SACD player, I can't imagine the sound being much more awesome than it already is. In conclusion, I would like to say that if it behooves you to support
artists who are Progressive Ears members or more importantly, if
you're a fan of top-notch fusion, I strongly urge you to pick up
this CD. It's being released on Ambient Records which incidentally
is run by drummer Mark Conese. The label was set up in 2000 and
already has a few releases. Chris Fox may have become known to many
of us here by his silly nickname but this is some seriously extraordinary
music. |