Artist: Michael Harris CD Title: "Sketches From The Thought Chamber" Reviewed by: Nick Martinelli Reviewed: 8/10/2001

     Michael Harris is a guitarist that has the his own unique style, flare and ability all his own.  I don't think I can fairly compare him to any other guitarists I've heard or reviewed.  He defiantly takes heavy fusion rock to an new level with his impressive guitar playing and song writing.  His technical skills alone are inspirational.  "Sketches from the Thought Chamber" has tons to offer for fusion and progressive guitar fans, and I know you'll love his work with out question.  This release is auctioned packed with riffs, licks, and melodies that will take you to another world of space and time.  I was impressed by the high musicianship and skill that Harris displays throughout the album.  

    Track one, "Prognosis" is an action packed number that clocks in at 8 minutes and 3 seconds.  It's packed with tons of riffs, licks and grooves.  The cool thing is that Michael knows who to fuse his song parts together.  You'll go from a slow paced riff, then jump into a speedy lick or run than hop into a totally different riff within only a few seconds.  I'm amazed by his composition skills.  Not many guitarists can pull off songs that have lots of different sections, and fuse them together without an abrupt noticeable change.  As far as cool licks go, the song is packed with them!  One of my favorites is a real spacey sounding lead section starting at 04:03, ending at 04:47.  It sounds like something out of a science fiction movie.  Harris uses some interesting choices of guitar effects in his piece, they really add to the atmosphere of the song and help give lots of texture to them.  06:06 - 06:38 marks a very cool neo-classical sounding lead that will run you down like a freight train!

     "Neuro-Transmitter," song two opens with an interesting guitar swell line that leads into a very odd sounding bass line.  Then in comes Harris with a clean chordy section to pick up the pace.  This song seems to be more lead driven whereas some of his songs are driven by the rhythm sections.  In this song he does introduce a repeating hook that comes in an out.  This song is set up more in a standard rock format, verse, chorus, and so on.  I really like Michael's lead playing in this track, he uses a large variety of techniques, from palm muted picking, speed picking, bending and effect laden tones to create a huge guitar sound.  I love the fusion jam riff at 04:38, he brings in a clean toned guitar and then does some clean tone soloing over.  It was a great added bonus. 

     "Regroovination," track three rolls in with some fat sounding blues guitar playing.  The main lick starting at 00:36 is the repeating theme of the song.  It's a very interested lick as well.  He utilizes the pentatonic scale a lot in this song.  It just goes to show that Harris can cover a lot of different guitar styles on one CD.  The song mixes up blues and fusion for an interesting blend of guitar madness.

     "Two Worlds Beyond," song four opens with an eerie sounding riff that sets the stage for the song.  This song has a dark feeling to it, like your walking through another dimension in your dreams.  Lets say this would be a great sound track for your strangest and most outlandish dreams.  I love the lick at 01:06 it's a very bright sounding one, which really stood out in this eerier song.  Harris also uses a bit at WAH WAH to spice some of his leads up in this one, it did a good job of enhancing his tone.  The other thing that struck me as being cool in this song is that the bass guitar lead the repeating hook in the song.  This tune shows some real fusion mastery that's for sure.

     "Shibboleth," song five is a great acoustic number that has an eastern feel to it.  It's packed with some middle eastern influenced guitar playing for sure.  Michael has a good ear for writing great sounding acoustic pieces, and I know you'll enjoy this one many times over.

     Song six, "Voyage of Xyrethius "  is divided up into 6 parts within the track.  It covers some wide range of fusion playing with some metal guitar influences tossed in to the pot.  I like the use of keyboards as accents in this song, they really add atmosphere to the song.  His leads in this one are very interesting that's for sure.  Harris tosses in lots of Neo-classical elements into it.  Check out the section from 03:16 to 03:48, lots of cool hammer on pull off lines and other cool classical ideas.  This song really is a musical voyage into undiscovered realms that's for sure and I know you'll take a liking to it fast.

     "IdeoSymphony," track seven is a huge Neo-Classical number that will bring you "Bach" to the old school times of music.  Harris blends a together progressive and classical styles for one wild guitar ride.  I love intro lead that starts of the song.  It sounds large than life.  Michael is a lead monster that's for sure and he doesn't play conventionally either.  Harris always stays outside of the norms, and I think that's what makes him a lot different from most other instrumental guitarists.  Another cool highlight is the double lead harmony at 01:32 and it's proceeding lead at 01:43.  Good song structure is another item to mention, this song flows flawlessly into each new section.  There's never an abrupt change, always a smooth transition.

     Track eight, "Madfingers" is a quick little number only being 2 minutes and twenty two seconds long.  It features some wild nylon acoustic guitar playing.  I really appreciate the fact that Michael put a few acoustic songs on this CD.  These types of songs give the album greater variety and break up the electric madness nicely.  This song will defiantly make you take a look at your picking style in a whole new light.

     "Eat Your Words," song nine was the track that I was looking for on this CD.  A real hard moving rocker that delivered the goods.  This song in my opinion was the best track on the album.  It's everything I look for in an instrumental song.  The main rhythm riff is a fast paced one that is accompanied by speedy drums, and a great guitar hook.  This song just plain rocks!  Michael accelerates as a speed player without a doubt.  His leads are clean and well put together.  Defiantly, rewind the main melody line a few times, because it's on of those you'll be humming later.

     "A Soul's Torment" is a very slow number that has that "soundtrack song" type feeling.  It is a very relaxing number that has some huge melodic leads in it.  I like the use of the large sounding keyboards.  The keyboards carry the song the whole way.  They are very atmospheric sounding, and take up lots of room.  I also like how Harris added in a acoustic section at 02:37, it broke the song up nicely and added a different movement to this tremendously large song.  Harris's leads are very melodic in this song as well.  He has a great ear for coming up with melodic lead lines in his songs.  His guitar tone is something to mention too.  It's always set to fit the leads in each song.  They give the guitar parts a nice warm feeling and they help to accentuate the melodies by giving the tone an enhanced sound.

     So that about wraps it up.  Overall this was a good release, and will really be a favorite for you progressive and fusion fans.  This music has so much to offer to the listener.  Michael Harris has mastered the art of writing very spatial and atmospheric sounding songs.  Each one creates it's own little world as your listening to it.  To be honest I'm not the biggest fan of progressive and fusion music, but after hearing this CD I gained more respect for it.  Harris is a talented guitar player who can write some interesting songs.  This music is defiantly for fans of technical song writing.  Michael creates different movements in each of his songs, just like most classical songs have.  So if your looking for something that breaks beyond the normal musical boundaries please check out Michael Harris's "Sketches From the Thought Chamber" you won't regret it!  Please visit Michael Harris at these cool websites: