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Customer Reviews of Gordian Knot

One of the best, if not the best, instrumental albums ever
With a band lineup consisting of Sean Malone (stick/bass/keyboards-ex Cynic), Ron Jarzombek (guitar-WatchTower, Spastic Ink), Sean Reinert (drums-ex Cynic), Trey Gunn (touch guitar-King Crimson), John Myung (stick-Dream Theater), and Glenn Snalwar (guitar), the first given is that progressive music enthusiasts will flock to this album, and metal purists will mostly flee. The second given is that the reviews will stumble back and forth from "best album ever", to "major disappointment!", as it is with any 'supergroup'. Business goes and will go as usual within the appropriate confines when it comes to this music. But truth be told, none of these factions are truly ready for the brilliance that is Gordian Knot. There are no groaning "prog" cliches to be found here, there are no predictable water-downs or letdowns betraying the (somewhat minimal) hype, and most importantly, there are really no boundaries in sight at all. What can be found on this album is a truly sparkling, soothing mixture of musical influences ranging from dark jazz to new age to metal, that helps make up one of the most colorful, in depth, and geniunely beautiful collections of music to come along in recent times.

Listening to Gordian Knot's self titled debut is like diving into the center of a dark horizon, where the ocean and the night sky meet and provide shelter from a generally sterilized, backwards world. The moods are stunning, the playing flawless, the compositions thoughtful, passion filled, and even touching. This album is not only a far cry from the bad name much newer progressive music gets, but is pretty much a far cry from most of music in general today. On all 9 normal tracks of the album, plus the bonus/secret track Grace, each of the 6 musicians rounding out the sound project a progressive, yet clearly defined individuality and a rare sense of direction that sends bandleader Sean Malone's already splendid instrumental pieces up into the stratosphere of true greatness that commands both respect and flowing emotion from the listener.

The album starts with Galois, one of 4 calmer/ambient songs on the album centered around Malone's keys and the strikingly fresh sounding element of the Chapman Stick instrument, which is employed mainly by Malone throughout each track and on a few songs by John Myung as well. Once the soft darkness of Galois fades Gordian Knot kicks into high gear with Code/Anticode, named after the odd symbols used to represent each musician in the liners. This is the first of many masterpieces on the album, with a jazzy, upbeat tidal wave of mood highlighted by the awesome guitar work of Ron Jarzombek, who proves on this track alone to be one of the music world's most underrated guitarists, as he manages to sound happy, aggressive, and progressive all while displaying his patented liquid-metal shredding. After this, the hits keep on coming as the pleasantries to the ears and spirit just keep getting sweeter. Reflections is a personal favorite of mine and contains some of the most haunting melodies on the album, along with more excellent guitarwork in a dark acoustic form by Glenn Snelwar, who also proves himself as a great composer, holding the main songwriting credit for the song. Singularity is one of the more heavy, groove oriented songs on the album, featuring an almost funk flavored mood in parts and showing off some incredible interaction between Trey Gunn's touch guitar parts and the ever impressive Stick work swirling through the back and foreground. Rivers Dancing is one of the longer songs on the album, at around 7 1/2 minutes, yet the music displayed will null you into another world and make it seem like a blissful infinity. Everything shines on this track, from the intense, almost rain dance-esque beat in the beginning, to Sean Malone's pulsing, exciting bass playing, right through a calmer middle atmosphere into Ron Jarzombek's heart stopping, loose-reined solo. Amazing.

Though these are the highlights of the album, there is really no weak song here. The more world music/new age influenced songs on the album, Redemption's Way and Srikara Tal, plod along in a trancelike, rich sense of exploration, despite the repetitive pitfalls they sometimes fall into, and the three other songs containing only Stick work, touch guitar and keyboards are also very solid. Megrez is a moody, ambient song, komm susser Tod, komm sel'ge is a short, dark tribute of an old J.S. Bach piece, and the secret/bonus track Grace closes the album with a positive, peaceful feeling that compliments the spiritual vibe of the rest of the songs perfectly.

Aside from some slight inconsistensies in a few songs, the only real complaint I have is with Sean Reinert once again bearing the brunt of a B or C grade drum production on a project, the result being his above-professional work is not as clear as it should be. Fortunately, it doesn't weaken the overall collection of songs.

Gordian Knot is a spiral of dark, introspective, emotionally tolling instrumental music played with the highest caliber and care. Highly recommended.

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simply the most creative progressive rock and/or metal album
This album is god. I need not say more. (But i feel i should.)

Gordian knot is a Sean Malone (formerly of Cynic) project featuring himself on bass and stick, his partner in rythmic geniousness, Sean Reinert (also from Cynic), on drums, tabla, and percussion, Ron Jarzombek (from Watchtower) and a new guy on acoustic and electric guitars, and the awesome talents of Trey Gunn (from ladder-day King Crimson) on touch guitar (what a badass instrument!). John Myung (from Dream Theater) plays stick on a couple of songs, but it doesnt tell you which ones.

Now, about the music - Gordian knot's diverse collection of musicians create music you've never heard any thing like. Each song builds layers and patterns throughout a sort of jazzy, groove-based prog-rock/metal, world music fusion with some avante garde leanings here and there and even some parts that sound quite techno. I really cant go too much in detail. What goes on here is far beyond words and even imagination. Some songs are quiet, atmospheric pieces, some are strange jungle-space conga jams, and some are intense, complex, layered prog-rock and prog-metal grooves. When you think they cant add any more instruments, they do. And then they add more. All of the musicians obtain their original styles from the bands theyre from but all work together to create something unique.

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Excellent! With one problem:(
I am new to progressive metal. In fact, buying this first Gordian Knot release is my first foray into the genre. I don't care for Dream Theater and the like, but was intrigued by previous reviews lauding Gordian Knot's mixture of metal technique, fusion virtuosity, and progressive sensibility. All of this is true about the CD. The production is warm. The drums are very dry and the guitars are in the front of the mix and very fat and bassy, the way I like it. There are no vocals, which is a good thing for me since metal vocalists seem to be touch and go. Distortion effects are clean and not tinny or canned. Arrangements are origional and compelling and themes are expounded upon with intentionality. Furthermore, there is a lot of space on the album, both in the beautiful ambiant passages and in the compositional structure of the songs.

The only problem is the keyboards, which as far as I can hear, only show up on the second track Code/Anticode. The keyboard is a cheesy digital hammond organ sound that has no depth. Sounds like a cheap Casio. Of course, this takes away from this track, and it is hard to ignore. The keyboards make this song sound a bit like a low budget homegrown cd and seems to be the only sign of laziness on the album. It's sad b/c this CD really attempts to move away from the mindless use of digital technology that was so rampant in the 80s and 90s both in metal and so-called progressive rock. Code/Anticode would have been fine with no keyboards or at least a vintage sound, not necessarily organ but maybe some analog synth low in the mix.
In conclusion, if you love warm, dry production, virtuous intentional song writing and execution this cd is for you. However, keep in mind the only drawback, that damn digital keyboard sound.
Peace.