An Endless Sporadic is a progressive rock duo comprised of guitarist/keyboard player Zach Kamins & drummer Andy Gentile. Their instrumental music has been getting lots of buzz of late, as it can be heard on the Tony Hawk's American Wasteland & various Guitar Hero video games. There's good reason why their tunes have been picked to appear on these games-this is high octane, full-throttle progressive fusion, perfect for background settings while you blow up the baddies and a real workout if you have one of those fake guitar thingies.
It also helps to have two esteemed members of The Flower Kings on board to help out, specifically, Roine Stolt & Jones Reingold. Roine handles the production & mixing here, and Jones bass guitar and engineering. The sullen "Waking Hours" kicks things off, but then you are knocked off your chair with the bombastic "From the Blue", a driving guitar/keys rocker that is as catchy as it is demanding. "Point of No Return" follows, an incredible progressive metal piece with meaty guitar riffs and flailing stick work, not to mention some spacey synths, while "Shell" shows the tender side of the band, with Kamins laying down some gorgeous piano melodies alongside Reingold's elastic bass grooves. "Treading Water" is an upbeat jazz-fusion number, again featuring some catchy melodies, and lovers of 70's styled prog-rock will totally dig the Genesis flavors on "The Triangular Race Through Space", complete with some Banks influenced keyboards and Petrucci meets Hackett guitar licks. Kamins brings out his Mellotron, Moog, electric and acoustic guitar for the proggy "Subliminal Effect", and the band level things out a bit on the prog-meets-Weather Report "Subliminal Effect" and "Beyond the Horizon".
Overall, this is some pretty impressive stuff, 34 minutes of instrumental jazz-fusion, progressive metal, and progressive rock, with equal amounts of chops and well written memorable songs. It's too bad I didn't hear this one in 2009, as it easily would have made my 'Best of the Year' list. Apparently the duo plan on getting a band together and taking this out on the road here in 2010, which should made for some exciting live music. Expect big things from this outfit folks.
Track Listing
1. Waking Hours 2:22
2. From the Blue 2:55
3. Point of No Return 2:16
4. Shell 3:05
5. Treading Water 4:00
6. The Triangular Race Through Space 4:58
7. Eternal Bloom 6:22
8. Subliminal Effect 3:43
9. Beyond the Horizon 3:19
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