Bushwhack-s/t

Self-Produced
2007


Progressive metal and progressive rock are tricky styles in my book, tricky meaning I think they are difficult to pull off. However that's as it should be because they tend to require a great deal of skill so it's okay for us listeners to have a high standard. The opening intro "In solitude" for some reason reminded me of Harry Potter movie music. After that almost every song has the same shortcoming. Picture yourself floating up in a hot air balloon, but you have no control over where it's going. It might be pretty for a little while, but then you realize it's not going anywhere and it's no longer very pleasant. The bulk of this album is kind of like that. They know how to play their instruments, but everything kind of floats along with very little rhyme or reason. They avoid being self-indulgent, but still it's just passage after passage that just kind of meanders around until the time is up. I hear a huge dose of Dream Theater and smaller doses of Rush, early Queensryche and Crimson Glory. However, all of those bands (to various extents) knew when to zig and zig and how to keep the flow of the music interesting. Bushwhack kind of missed out on that part of the lesson even though they have some technical skills. But all the technical skills in the world won't save an album if it's not arranged decently. I liked some of the tones and the production, but it kind of felt like video game music to some extent. It was just kind of going in a big loop and even though it was kind of showy it still seemed like background music because it lacked the hooks that it sorely needed. When it was all said and done this album felt rather flat despite the playing ability of this band and their talent is just wasted with this approach. These guys are really young so they still have time to figure it out and I hope they do.

http://www.myspace.com/bushwhack