INNERVISIONS (E)

Innervisions is the sequel to Tadashi Goto's debut Soundscapes (2005). The keyboardist, originating from Japan, spent quite some time in Australia and is a well-known musician in many countries. He managed to enlist several famous guests for this project: Ty Tabor (King's X, guitar), Sean Conklin and Chris Poland (ex-Megadeth), bassist Tony Levin, who needs no further introduction, Randy George (Neal Morse) and Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder, Whitesnake). The twelve tracks were all composed by Goto and he also gets the credits for playing the drums. They must be electronically generated by synths I presume and in my opinion it’s a pity that he didn’t hire a professional drummer of flesh and blood, because it would have benefitted the entire album enormously. The first track is immediately in the highest gear with roaring synthesizers, loads of double bass drums and cutting edge guitar solos. Although Derek Sherinian might be a reference, the music falls into the category of speedmetal meets progressive rock. Genuine symphonic bombastic metal can be heard in the beginning of The Cycle, but also in the high paced somewhat neurotic passages in Karma. A lot more interesting is Inner Circle: beautiful orchestrations, a lower pace and melodies coming close to the melodic electronic style. Here Goto shows that he can play the piano as well. Multiple changes in style, pace and atmosphere are interesting but devaluate the beauty of the opening. In The Deepest Depression you'll hear more of the Sherinian and Planet X stuff, but also some dazzling soloing by Goto’s synthesizer more in the vein of Keith Emerson and of course the guitar gets plenty of room too. Werther Effect contains influences of Yellow Magic Orchestra but also from fusion, while the guitar provides the metal style in this track. Again Goto’s puts in a lot of sudden changes in pace and style. The ultimate soft-jazz and symphonic piece of music is called Inner Peace, mainly built on keyboards and percussion. After this gentle appealing piece of music it’s kind of a rude awakening in The Darkest Years, which I would like to call progressive jazzrock. Flow Like Water contains a rather slow tempo and a bit of a Close To The Edge-like interlude, but the harsh solos prevent the listener from falling asleep. In Night Of Destruction it's 'King’s X meets Planet X’ with a very shrill sounding guitar and for my taste an irritating drum sound. In the Liberal Paradox there’s a paradox indeed: melodic versus cacophonic, speed versus laidback and progressive versus speed-fusion. The piano opens Never Free, but rather quickly a mixture of synthi-pop and Planet X comes out of the speakers and apart from the cutting edge solos there are some great melodies here. Goto saved the best for last because in The Spirits Within you can finally appreciate his impressive talents in a more jazzy, melodic and symphonic way.

Goto is a gifted, ultra fast playing keyboardist and there are some great musicians on this album, but for my nerves Innervisions is just a little too long and too speedy. With a real drummer instead of a machine and more balance between high and lower pace, Goto would undoubtedly appeal to a wider spectrum of listeners.