Helmet of Gnats is an instrumental prog fusion band originating from Stamford, Connecticut, and one of my latest musical discoveries, thanks to my visit at the Prog In The Park festival (in Rochester, NY) this year... I had the pleasure to witness one of the coolest, most amazing bands I have heard in a long time! HOG will leave you speechless! Their live performance is simply astonishing, and so is their self-titled CD. The band itself was created in the early 80's by two highschool buddies, Chris Fox and Matt Bocchino. After numerous personnel changes, and a first album in 1996, the band is still hard at it, and their 2004 album is among some of the best prog fusion stuff I have heard in years! Oddly enough, this can be considered as their second self-titled debut CD, Chris Fox mentions on this subject "Our first album was a long time ago with a whole other lineup, and it wasn't technically as sharp and tight as our latest is."

The album begins with a great track: Almost Babylon has this cool jazz fusion intro, followed by some great guitar work by Mr. Fox, love that fuzzy B3 too, you can hear a bit of Happy the Man influence in there. Chinese Leftovers is a slightly RIOish track, with some great rhythms, changing completely in the middle to a spacy melody that builds up to some great guitar riffs, returning to the original theme, quite a bit of variety in this number, thoroughly enjoyable. Yesterday's Brain puts more accent on the keyboards, and has a great proggy/jazzy melody that just hooks you instantly, with a bit of inspiration from Metheny and Chick Corea, a terrific number with blistering guitar riffs, that ends on a spacy reminder of the original theme... Wow! Crumbs is a quieter piece, with a more traditional jazz structure, with a bit of influence from John scofield and Zappa at times, with great keyboard bits throughout. Lesser Beings is an odd little number, very experimental, a collection of noises and soundscapes mixed together to give a slighty sinister feel, again, reminding me of a Metheny track on A Map of the World... creaking noises, a drum beat sounding like distant thunder... quite a change in tempo from the next number, Misfit Toys, showcasing the individual talents of the guitarist and keyboardist, great drum beat on that number with a great powerful conclusion. Chimps in Space is a splendid piece, one of my favorites... terrific tempo changes, catchy melodies, with some more Corea influence, it's an incredibly original number, symphonic at times, jazzy, even classical at some points.

A world-class prog fusion ensemble, and an impeccable recording on this album, for those lucky enough to have a player supporting the SACD audio CD standard, this album was recorded using this technology, but even on an ordinary player, it sounds incredible! Go to their website at www.helmetofgnats.com, they have audio samples of the whole album, you'll fall over for this band!

My rating for Helmet Of Gnats : 8.6/10(album reviewed by Robert Dansereau 01/10/2005)