Gordian Knot
Emergent
9
The term Gordian Knot first came from ancient history. Essentially, the story behind the Gordian Knot was that the ruler Midas payed tribute to the gods for his rule by tying his lowly ox cart to a pole in the center of town and fastened it using a complex knot with no obvious beginning or end. Countless people tried to untie the knot with no success. Eventually the knot was moved to Gordium, hence the name Gordian Knot. It was foretold that, he who solves the puzzle of the knot would rule the world. Eventually, while on his way to vast conquers, Alexander The Great strolled through and slashed the knot apart with his sword. Gordian Knot is a very appropriate name for this group. The theory behind the music is complex and multi-demensional, yet has a uniformity and beauty which makes me envision what the historical Gordian Knot would have looked like. At the same time, the musicians are so proficient with unimaginable talent, that they slice right through the material. It's quite a marvel analogy on the part of Sean Malone, the root musician of Gordian Knot, and gives a glimpse of the genius mind that he has. The first thing I must point out is this; Gordian Knot is not for everyone. The music is advanced and very textured. Meaning that most people will have a hard time relating to the music. Secondly, even if a relationship is struck with the listener, that listener must allow for many patient listens. It takes a little work in order to sort through what is happening. First we must pay focus to the musician/composer known as Sean Malone. For those of you not familiar with Sean, I'll give a quick rundown of his biography. My first experience with Sean was with the Cynic "Focus" album. I believe this was his first major release, in which he plays bass for the progressive, technical metal band. Since then, Sean has played on over two dozen releases. He has also authored two books on bass playing entiled "Dictionary Of Bass Grooves" and "A Portrait of Jaco: The Solos Collection", both available from the Hal Leonard Corporation. Sean also teaches music at the University of Oregon. So basically, the guy knows his stuff. The album has changed it's core line-up from the debut Gordian Knot album which included Trey Gunn (King Crimson among others), Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower among others), Glenn Snelwar (first album for Glenn), Sean Reinert (Cynic, Death, Aghora) and even featured Dream Theater's John Myung! Gordian features several musicians on the new Emergent CD including both Jason Gobel and Paul Masvidal (Cynic), Sean Reinert (Cynic) and Jim Matheos (Fates Warning). The core group now consists of Sean Malone, Bill Bruford (King Crimson, Yes, Genesis) and Steve Hackett (genesis). Emergent is the first time all the members of Cynic have recorded together since the first, and last, Cynic album was recorded. I found this to be a milestone. Okay now to the actual CD; it consists of 8 tracks and runs just under 50 minutes. The album starts with the song Arsis. The song is a 2 minute bass solo, essentially, and immediately displays Sean's prowess on the fretless bass guitar. The song is every bit as commanding and perfect as anything that a certain Les Claypool, or equivalent, could offer. The bass playing offers both the mellow and tonal of a frettless bass, but also plenty of percussive bass playing as well. Simply some of the best bass playing on any album I've ever heard. Not only that, but Sean is an amazing guitar player as well. Sean offers up plenty of variety in the guitar department. Also, Sean plays key on the album. Of course, since Sean is the primary member of GK, he does most the composing as well! If that wasn't enough, Sean is also a master at the Chapman Stick, or just plain Stick. The Stick is, essentially, the bass counterpart to the Warr guitar. Both are "tap" stringed instruments. If you've ever seen the guitar player Stanley Jordan perform, then you have a good idea of how these instruments are played. Some chapman sticks are 12 stringed and can span 5 octaves! Sean is probably the best bass player and overall musician I know of, and rightfully so. Simply put, Sean's playing is phenominal! Onto the guitars: Aside from from what Sean Malone is playing, the other guitarists contribute greatly. As mentioned earlier, the album features 3 other guitarists. How many songs can you find 4 differents guitarists playing on? This album has it. The lead sections are pretty amazing. The knowledge of musical scales is certainly obvious once you listen to this album. Many scales, styles and emotions are offered. I suggest listening with the CD sleeve in hand. The sleeve points out who is playing in what sections for each song. Once I sat down with these credits, I could immediately envision who was playing which parts and the character of each person was overwhelming. This really helped me to enjoy the CD more. Most people will undoubtedly have a hard time sorting through everything. This is one reason the album isn't for everyone. People tend to like music more if they can envision what the musician is doing. It certainly helps me. Hopefully listeners will gain additional enjoyment by following this guideline. Overall, the guitar work is pretty amazing. Tons of really good licks and scales for musicians to learn from. Also, the Ebow is fairly prevalent on the album. Crazy contraption that it is; I think I'll have to buy one now! The drumming is split between Bill Bruford and Sean Reinert. Many people know Sean Reinert from his appearance on the Death "Human" album or the Cynic "Focus" album. He is certainly a top musician in my book. Bill Bruford is also highly regarded throughout the music world. It was because of this that I came away a little disappointed in the drumming category. With all fairness, the drumming on the album is undoubtedly good. There are many nice fills and solid drumming throughout. There's even a drum solo by Bill. However, I found that the album lacked the wow factor in the drum department. All was good and tasteful, but not jam-dropping good. A solid effort on the drums, but not the strength of the album. I don't think there is any double-bass drumming on the album. Overall, the drumming fits the bill. but is still a bit disappointing...I'm being pretty critical here though. The songwritting is very good, but I did find some fault. As expected, being that Sean composes much of the work on paper, versus working things out in the jamming room; some of the songs seemed too contrived and fail to deliver the energy of a more live approach to song writing. Also, there isn't much of the way of heavy riffs with powerful drumming. The album sticks to it's fusion roots, but doesn't offer much in the way of "metal fusion". Many leads are performed with distorted guitars and there are many riffs that offer distorted guitars, but the riffs are not of the highly technical, driven and oddly-timed sort. The album could have used some more complex metal riffs and power to give off that metalized energy we all demand. The production is quite impressive overall. The album is highly textured with varying instruments and sounds. The songs are layered nicely allowing for different instruments to follow their own path while keeping in step to the other instruments. Very impressive indeed! However, I found fault with some of the distorted guitar sounds. Sometimes they were harsh, yet weak. The keys were mixed. Half the time they were perfect, but other times (like the additional keys on Fischer's Gambit) were overbearing. Also, some of the drum sound was a bit weak. One song uses V-drums (electronic). They sound pretty good for being electronic, but they can't surpass the sound of natural drums. I thought the first GK album sounded slightly more "expensive". Two songs are re-recorded. One form the Cortlandt album and one from the first GK album. Both are great pieces of music (especially with Matheos on guitar for Fischer's Gambit), but both had been done before. I would have like to have heard a couple new tunes instead. Speaking of Jim Matheos, he actually shreds on this album...unlike the past two Fates Warning albums. I feel like asking him if he's actually going to write and play to his full potential from here on out...I hope so. Also, a new project featuring Sean Malone, Jim matheos and Mike Portnoy (among others) is in the works. Should be interesting. Finally, any fan of Cynic should buy this album. Any fan of Sean Malone should buy this album. Any fan of fusion should buy this album. Any musician looking to learn something should buy this album! The album, while not entirely ideal, is impeccible in it's execution.
