TRACK LIST:
1. Dangerous Discipline 4:05
2. Hand Me My Brass 3:52
3. Night Flight to the Sun 4:26
4. Straight by the Crook 5:06
5. Withdrawn Into the Dimness 4:56
6. Face Melting Phenomenon 5:36
7. Anger Management 5:07
8. Sunny Beach Party 4:21
9. The Grand Illusion 4:52
10. More Is More 5:00
LINE UP:
Sabir Salkic - drums
Marcel Willnat - bass
Adrian Weiss - guitars
with:
Dee Dammers - guitars
Alexandra Zerner - guitars
Benjamin Schippritt - guitars
Nick Johnston - guitars
Justin Hombach - guitars
Fabian Ratsak - guitars
Patrick Sperling - guitars
Martin Miller - guitars
Thorsten Praest - guitars
Yasi Hofer - guitars
Prolusion.
Germany based guitarist Adrian Weiss has been releasing solo albums at a fairly steady pace for the last decade or thereabouts, with four albums to his name at the time of writing. "Dangerous Discipline" is the name of his most recent production, which was self released in the fall of 2022.
Analysis.
Weiss' solo productions have, to my memory at least, all been rather typical in terms of being the solo production of a guitarist: They are all instrumental, and the guitar is in focus all along. This is what fans of those types of albums desire to hear of course, and the most interesting aspect of such albums for my sake is if they also will provide material of interest beyond the regular guitar fan crowd.
Weiss has been successful in this so far if my recollection is on par today, and he gets it right again this time around too. While there is a strict division between main and supporting instruments here, the arrangements and the songs are built as full band experiences rather than solely showcasing the main instrument, which does give the material here a stronger and broader overall appeal.
While I recall that Weiss' earlier solo albums did have a tendency for a bit of progressive flair as well, on this occasion at least this aspect of the material takes a bit more of a back seat. We do get tempo changes, quite a few passages with a quirkier rhythm section, more broken up patterns and similar more advanced features, but these are details you generally expect to find on a solo album of this kind too. As expected we get a liberal serving of guitar riffs and solo runs that explore both a simple and elegant mode of delivery as well as more expressive displays of skill and creativity, alternating between heavy metal, power metal and a little bit of neo-classical metal as the main backbone of the compositions. Occasionally with what might be a little bit of jazz sneaking in, although as a minor and subtle presence that may well be accidental rather than planned at that.
Conclusion.
"Dangerous Discipline" is a production that delivers the goods for those with an interest in instrumental guitar albums of the metal variety. The compositions are well assembled and executed, the guitar playing showcases multiple sides and mods of approach as well as delivery both for support riffs and guitar soloing. The number of expressive details are of course numerous, and while this isn't an album that falls into the progressive metal category it is among the albums of this kind that does have features that may well be of interest for some progressive metal fans. This is first and foremost a production for those who enjoy instrumental guitar driven metal though, and a well made specimen of its kind at that.
Progmessor: November 2022
The Rating Room
