Time Signature Up from the ashes...

Genre: progressive metal

Wow! This album surpised me. Seeing that Patrick Hemer is primarily a studio musician and an instrumentalist, I expected this album to be another load of mindless self-indulgence from an egocentric so-called guitarist.

I stand corrected!

Patrick Hemer's "More Than Meets The Eye" (appropriate title), turned out to be a collection of well-composed and well-integrated progressive metal tracks. They are guitar-driven, to be sure, and there is plenty of guitar shredding for you to enjoy. But, each song is composed as a complete rock song. This means that the rhythm guitars, and the drums and bass are treated with respect, so to speak, and they are allowd to make contributions to the overall album which are just as important as the guitar leads. Each song offers crushing rhythms, some of which are heavy and groovy (as in 'Up From the Ashes'), funky (as in 'Legend in Your own Mind'), or even melodic (as in 'Guilty').

In fact, while progressive, the compositions on the album are fairly accessible, and this is because they were composed to accommodate one eleent which is not always encluded on guitar-hero albums - namey, vocals. That's right, Patrick Hemer is not just a brilliant guitarist, he is also a fair singer. consequently, this is not an instrumental album, and I, for one, appreciate that in this case.

This album was a pleasant surprise for me, and I am sure that its well composed and well integrated songs (including a nice cover version of Queen's classic 'Death on Two Legs') will appeal to both seasoned progressive metal fans and to those yet to be initiated into the world of progressive metal.