I have been a big fan of
Vitalij Kuprij for some time now, especially his solo albums. He is probably mostly known for his work with
Artension but though I gave them a chance a few times, that band never did anything for me. But when I heard he was making a new solo cd, working with a lot of different guitarsts, among others my all-time favorite guitarplayer Michael Romeo of Symphony X, I just had to review this one. His first solo album,
High Definition, and his third,
VK3, are up there with the very best instrumental metal cds ever made in this reviewer's humble opinion. The second one
Extreme Measures didn't do much for me. I found the music more or less average which I partly blame on the guitarist he used for that album,
George Bellas. Bellas has the chops but his ideas of melody are non-existant.
For
Forward and Beyond, Kuprij has called in a veritable army of guitarists. Names such as
George Bellas,
Michael Romeo,
Jeff Kollman,
Roger Staffelbach,
Michael Harris and
Borislav Mitic should mean something to most people interrested in instrumental guitar.
These hired guns are more or less spread out on the album's ten tracks. It seems that they mostly just recorded their parts after Kuprij had recorded keyboards, bass and drums and didn't have much to say in composing, if any. Except for their solos of course.
I would of course have loved to see what these guitarists could have done if they had composed the songs working with Kuprij. He has made a very good selection of guitarists since all the guitarsolos range from good to amazing. Most of the melodylines are pretty good too; even
George Bellas surprises me with some quite good melodies. The rythm guitars are mostly in the background, laying down the basics. Focus is definitely on the solos and some on the melodies, guitarwise. I could use a little more bite here.
The compositions are heavy with classical inspiration and, from time to time, some fusion too. For example, there is
Piano Overture, with Michael Romeo on guitar. It is played over the third movement of Bach's Moonlight Sonata. The original is a very beautiful piece and I must say that Kuprij's version is very good too. Of course, the guitarwork of Romeo helps here. For me, Romeo's solos are definitely the best guitar solos on the album. His fluent playing is very recognizable and played with just a little more virtuosity than the others. But of course I'm a big fan of the man already so you should make up your own mind about this.
We don't want another "My guitarist is better than yours!"-flame war here. Again, Romeo is playing along with Kuprij's composition; a record composed with these two together would make me besiege the cd factory to get my copy. Anyways, a man can dream, can't he?
There are two purely classical tracks on the European version, one called Phantom Flurries and one called Idol Tribute. I don't recognize Phantom Flurries but I guess it could be Chopin or somebody like that. It's a nice little piece played as good as any of the big pianists could do it. If Kuprij composed it himself, I'm impressed. Idol Tribute is a mix of a lot of popular classical pieces. I hear excerpts from the Funeral March, Mozart's Turkish March, some more Mozart and Bach pieces and a lot of others I have beard before but don't remember the names of. I guess this is a hommage to the masters from Kuprij. All played very well but he just plays too fast sometimes. On the verge of being sloppy.
The drums are kind of special here. Kuprij plays the drums too... on his keyboard, that is. I don't think I have ever heard of anyone doing that before. I find it impressive that he can play the drums in this album because they are not simple; on the other hand, if you focus on the drums, you can hear that first of all, they are not from a real drumset. The second thing you notice, is the drumming style. What he plays certainly sounds different from all the drummers I have ever heard. Though it doesn't take anything away from the album, I would have preferred a real drummer. Kuprij plays tight enough, he just doesn't have the feeling of a real life drummer.
The sound is ok, but no more than that. Not better than his previous albums. For an album of 2004, it is below standard, it would probably have had a good sound if it had come out in the late 80's.
All in all,
Forward and Beyond is a pretty good cd. I still feel that it lacks the inspiration of VK3 and that the compositions could have been a little better. With that said, you must remember that Kuprij is one of the best, if not the best, keyboarder out there. And along with that you get a handful of the best guitarists too. Sure, they can shred and they certainly do. However, it never gets too much. Between all the solos there are a lot of beautiful melodies. I guess that this cd will mostly appeal to shredders and the rating is given with that in mind. Anyways, if you don't like instrumental metal, you probably wouldn't be reading this. So if you like neo-classical shred with feeling, you should give this cd a chance.
Written by
Tajs Tuesday, April 20, 2004
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