August 6, 2021
Liquid Tension Experiment 3
Here's a quick review of Liquid Tension Experiment 3:
Fans of Liquid Tension Experiment have always hoped for a reunion after the band's two stellar releases in 1998 and 1999, but as the decades passed, It seemed more and more unlikely.

But late last year, to the surprise of all, Mike Portnoy announced that the group had gathered again – in the Dream Theater studios no less – to record the third opus of the mighty LTE. They had confined themselves in order to work together in the studio. LTE3 was released in mid-April this year.

This third new album captures the spontaneity, energy and originality of their first one, and I must admit, is far better than their second one. The quartet as always, puts the accent on impressive instrumentation and blistering virtuosity throughout the album, which is composed of a solid selection of fiery, energetic numbers, ballads and improvisations. Some of the compositions have riffs directly lifted from Petrucci's Dream Theater library of melodies! It was no surprise that their famed interpretation of "Rhapsody In Blue" by Gershwin was featured on this album, as they had introduced it during their US tour in 2008 much to their fan's delight!

The group also released promo videos for the songs The Passage of Time, Beating the Odds and Hypersonic. The regular edition of LTE3 contains eight tracks; the special edition with bonus disc comes with almost one hour of improvisations. It was released in digital, CD, LP and Blu-ray formats, including a limited 2CD+Blu-ray artbook edition and a limited deluxe box set.

August 5, 2021
PAKT
Here's a new energetic jazz fusion band with a super cool lineup! PAKT !
PAKT is made up of fretless bass guitar icon Percy Jones (Brian Eno, Brand X), guitarists Alex Skolnick (Savatage, TSO) and Tim Motzer, and drummer Kenny Grohowski.

Elaborate instrumental proggy jazz fusion, with a superb level of virtuosity, the PAKT project is fluid and improvised yet highly organized. This album was released in July 2021, from a recording made of a live stream at the height of the pandemic lockdown, on August 15, 2020 in Brooklyn, NY. The intimate setting/live atmosphere of the ShapeShifter Lab Studios made for a splendid collaboration and instant chemistry between the musicians, something that would probably not have been possible if this project had been made in a home studio with the musicians sending their individual music tracks through email.

Alex Skolnick says: "When we play together it is non-categorizable, although one could probably apply terms like jazz-rock, ambient, experimental etc. It is entirely in the moment. The closest thing I've done to this was a project called Attention Deficit (with Michael Manring), although that was pure studio, never live. Fans of Attention Deficit will love PAKT, which can be seen live, and in fact, is all live, all the time."

Mixed and mastered by Benjamin Schäfer and Markus Reuter and produced by PAKT and Leonardo Pavkovic, this album is now available in CD format (2CD) on the Moonjune Records label, as well as on Bandcamp.

March 13, 2021
The Future Bites
from Steven Wilson
This is my review of Steven Wilson's latest album, The Future Bites.

Steven Wilson is one of those brilliant artists that truly reinvents himself from one album to another, his musical imagination seems to be boundless. The Future Bites was released in early February, the COVID pandemic complicating the production side of the album, which had been scheduled to be released back in the summer of 2020. Quite a departure from the general musical styles and arrangements from his earlier albums Raven, Grace for Drowning and Insurgentes, but still very much in Steven's trademark sound and song structure.

The theme of the album is familiar to Steven Wilson fans, dealing with identity, technology and mass consumerism, offering at times a dark, dystopian view of our world. Those themes were explored in some way on Porcupine Tree's Fear of a Blank Planet and are recurrent in some of his later work. Steven's press release described it as "The Future Bites picks apart our 21st century utopia, while also allowing for moments of personal growth and optimism".

The album begins with Unself, a short, eerie intro, and then on to one of the singles of the album, Self, which has a bit of a techno vibe, a catchy tune. King Ghost is a ethereal soundscape, reminiscent of "Index" at times, one caveat though, the tinny synth drums can be grating at times. 12 things I forgot is a great, catchy pop ballad with lovely melodies and harmonies, very much radio-ready, a genre that Steven explored on To the Bone with "Permanating". Eminent Sleaze is a groovy, rhythmic track, where the usage of female back vocals is a bit reminiscent of Roger Waters and Pink Floyd, some great Chapman stick riffs from Sir Nick Beggs. Man of the People is a quiet, spacy interlude, which sounds like the material from the Grace For Drowning era, one of my favorites tracks. Then on to the "epic", and primary single of the album, Personal Shopper, clocking at almost 10 minutes, an energetic, highly rhythmic, slightly sinister techno rave track, and although I am not really a fan of this style, the track is quite catchy and is definitely good road music! Then on to Follower, an energetic track with a driving rhythm and a bit of distorted guitar work, the earworm "Ooh oh Follow me follow me" will stay stuck in your head! Count of Unease is a soft, melodic, fading conclusion to the album with a structure reminiscent of "Happy Returns" from Hand Cannot Erase.

A short main album at 42 minutes, I was tempted by the deluxe box set which features nearly 90 minutes of bonus material but for the casual fan, the regular edition is quite satisfactory.

A few music videos were released for the songs Eminent Sleaze, Personal Shopper and Self, all highly original, at times bizarre, with slick production and top notch effects.

I must salute Steven for this highly audacious and out-of-the-box album, definitely far from his comfort zone, which features good melodies, catchy pop themes and thoughtful lyrics. Some of Wilson's more rabid fans have often voiced their discontent at his current pop phase, and are not happy with his new musical direction. And it is indeed jarring at times, but give it a chance, give it a spin, it'll grow on you.

I will admit that even though I definitely enjoy this one a lot, The Future Bites is not my favorite from his discography. I give it 3.9 out of 5 stars!