Detailed Reviews [Group Therapy - 2001 - Demo of the upcoming 2nd album]

Group Therapy (Japan) - 2001 - Demo of the upcoming 2nd album
(Note: to be released by "Mellow" late summer / early fall of 2001)

This is probably a fifth pre-production review I write before the complete album will be released according to the contract. Group Therapy's debut album was among those few first CDs that I received specially for my review back in summer of 1999. At that time I was quite a good specialist concerning Art (Symphonic) Rock and Progressive Metal genres, but then I didn't expect that I will consider Jazz Fusion as the third essential 'Whale' that supports Progressive Rock. Talking about Fusion I mean its true sense - i.e. Confluence of several different musical genres. Of course, concerning our genre I understand Jazz Fusion as a blend of anything more or less clearly related to Jazz (Jazz-Rock, some 'jazzy' manifestations of Canterbury, RIO) with various forms of Progressive Music in general. Now when ProgressoR is probably the only Prog-site that treats equally all the three Progressive 'Whales' that are Art Rock, Prog Metal, and Jazz Fusion, and there lots of Jazz Fusion related reviews on it, I have to admit that I slightly overrated Group Therapy's debut album. "Atlantis" is just a good album, and it's an album of real Fusion, without any progressive prefixes, etc to it. (So I should delete the fifth star in the rating of "Atlantis"). But while "Atlantis" was just a good album of real Fusion, five tracks I've heard from the Group Therapy upcoming second album are already instrumentals of Jazz Fusion in the true meaning of the latter word (in 'our' case - progressive). Despite the fact that the brass section still works in the real Fusion key (fortunately, there is lesser of brass on the band's second album than on the debut), all arrangements made by a traditional Rock 'section' (of instrumentalists) of this band change radically towards a more progressive sound. I've noticed a tighter work of the rhythm section, but especially amazing is how bandleader Hiroyuki Kitada can turn things really progressive. I'm very impressed with his newly (progressively improved) approach to his own work as a guitarist. He never played earlier such interesting solos that sound especially progressive to the accompaniment of his own diverse rhythm-guitar moves (that can't be named just chords). All five instrumental on this pre-production material have a few truly progressive sections here and there, but the second piece (Damascus) is so astonishingly unique that can change radically the average attitude to Jazz Fusion in general. This is more than just a real Prog-killer, this piece is incredibly innovative (from beginning to end) - even in the approach to implantation of Eastern motives (Arabic here) to the compositional structures. Frankly, you may never have heard anything even remotely close to a Prog-piece like this with such a unique sound. I can't wait to hear the complete version of this album. After listening to those instrumentals that are currently just in process of recording I'll see: maybe, this album will be worthy to have all six stars of a masterpiece.

VM. June 5, 2001