CROSSFIRE

Crossfire, Turkish semi prog thrash metal band, was formed by guitarist Kaya Sevinc in 1999. It took them 3 years to finally form their original line up and unique sound. Ever since they have been one of the most popular bands in the Turkish Heavy Metal scene. Crossfire honed their sound by combining power and thrash metal with the classical metal approach. Their "Decisions of Hate" (2002) demo was an underground favorite that lead them to hit the road for a massive tour including 2003 Metal Bash Festival in Hamburg, Germany... more

BRYAN BELLER (Steve Vai, Mike Keneally, Dethklok)

Bryan Beller has maintained a frenetic, multi-faceted career as a bassist, composer, writer and clinician for over fourteen years. On his own, Beller released his debut solo album, the jazz/rock-flavored VIEW, in late 2003. His second album "Thanks In Advance", a deeply personal narrative set to advanced jazz/rock compositional confidence, came out a few weeks ago. more

New Grass Revival / On The Boulevard

New Grass Revival are one of the pioneers of progressive bluegrass. Formed in 1971 by Sam Bush (mandolin/vocals), Curtis Burch (guitar), Ebo Walker (bass) and Courtney Johnson (banjo), they immediately got the attention from the industry both in a good and bad way. First of all, they were often told that their music was not bluegrass, and they knew it wasn’t “bluegrass” in its traditional sense, and it wasn’t what they were trying to achieve anyways. They were blending rock, soul and blues rhythms with the traditional bluegrass music. They were not wearing suites, but instead they had a more casual style along with long hair... more

BILLY SHERWOOD / AT THE SPEED OF LIFE (2008)

Third solo CD from Billy Sherwood (CIRCA:, former YES) was released a couple of weeks ago. It is called "At The Speed Of Life". Being a good song writer and a multi instrumentalist is something big all by itself and there are only a handful of musicians who are gifted enough to produce and mix the music they write, everybody knows that this is a different dimension; but Billy Sherwood undeniably possesses outer-worldly talents as a musician and producer. All songs are written, mixed and produced by him on this CD, needless to say he played all the instruments as well.

When I saw the CD cover, I thought it was unusual and it didn't quite make any sense till I took the sheet out of the case and opened it up. There I saw a very thematic space scene (the Sun and the Earth and the universe in the background) along with Billy's pictures taken by his wife. At first I read the lyrics and found them to be very realistic and uplifting. Although his sound is quite spacey, in his lyrics Billy is more factual, but don't take this in a negative way, because his music and vocals are indeed very emotional and moving. There were a lot of moments where I thought "this is very existentialist", however take this with a grain of salt: Do not think of Jean Paul Sartre or Albert Camus when you read the word existentialist, because there is a third category to it which is quite spiritual and not considered as much as the other two. I believe Billy's lyrics are there. Time being one of the biggest themes of this album, Sherwood tells the listener to use it wisely and get the most of it while we can. In the mean time we also need to keep looking into the future and learn from our past. This is the realistic and optimistic side of things. He also brings out the spiritual side with parts like:"I will always believe / Fate has a hand in this life / From the beginning / Right up'til the end".

Another thing I noticed about this album is the difference in the sound. I found Billy's sound a little more spacey compared to his past works. Taking all of this in as a running theme, the effects on the vocals and the synths' sound complete the package with the CD cover image art. Billy uses robotic effects in some parts and in other parts the vocals are just floating in the space and the synths sound more ambient then ever. Right from the start with "Forward" you will hear his singing bass (very jazzy) and oh yes heavy in the mix, you gotta love that! "In The Maze Of The Garden" opens up with those robotic vocals and happens to be one of the most existentialist songs on the album. It is over 8 minutes long and has tastes of prog rock, jazz and fusion. "In Memory Of" is a very short instrumental piece with heavy fretless bass sound with ambient synths in the background. Although Billy is a multi instrumentalist it is quite obvious that when he plays bass he feels home. So here is to you all bass freaks... you will dig this CD. "Face The Down" was not one of my favorites in the beginning however it grew on me the more I listened to it especially the chorus part. It takes off with floating vocals, in an ambient atmosphere and becomes jazz-rock, and goes this way back and forth, up and down tempo. "Alive and Wondering" is probably one of the best songs on this CD. It starts like a gospel song and you hear Billy's vocals with very little effect. I need to add, get your drinks ready because this one has a killer guitar solo a la classic rock. "At The Speed Of Life" is most definitely my favorite one. It is over 10 minutes long. If I wanted to describe Billy's sound to someone I would suggest they hear this one first because it has a little bit of everything in it and his talents as a bassist and guitarist truly shine. The album ends with another 10 minutes+ song titled "Seeing Through The Walls". I have to admit this is lyrically the least uplifting and thee most existentialist song but I still would not say that it is pessimistic, it is just "what it is", much like life itself. It is the "you keep wondering why, but take it as it comes and don't give up" moment of the CD. It also has a Peter Gabriel like feel to it. I think this is a great finale for the CD because it leaves you with thoughts and questions and makes you take a look into yourself.

Overall, this is the best work of Billy Sherwood to date and although it may sound paradoxical to use the word "catchy" for progressive music, right after the first listen you will find yourself already familiar with parts of the songs and therein lies Sherwood's talent. This CD will occupy your stereo for quite a long time because each time you go back to it you will hear something you haven't heard before, especially with headphones on. "At The Speed Of Life" is a flawless fusion of different genres like prog rock, ambient and jazz. On the other side of the coin, it is a masterpiece production wise. Definitely a must have for all progsters!

Hande BURDG