Jim Matheos is not a stranger to us, as most of us know him as the excellent guitar picker of the notorious prog rock band Fates Warning. Matheos musically also cooperated with OSI, Arch/Matheos, Gordian Knot and Memories Of Machines. Tuesday The Sky is his latest project and the debut album is called Drift, featuring ten instrumental tracks that expand Matheos's musical borders further. On Drift Matheos plays all the guitars and bass guitar and he is assisted by drummer Lloyd Hanney (God Is An Astronaut), Kevin Moore, who plays keyboards on It Comes In Waves and Drift and female vocalist Anne Lynne Williams, who provides ethereal vocals on Vortex Street and the title track. Drift is an instrumental, atmospheric album which is certainly not suitable for metal heads as most of the tracks are rather “mellow” and the overall sound of the album has more in common with OSI or Chroma Key than with e.g. Fates Warning. The music is sometimes even cinematic and ambient, but the guitar playing of Matheos is always top notch. My favourite tracks are Kite, Westerlies with a truly amazing guitar solo and the longest track Dyatlov Pass, which clocks over seven minutes. Dyatlov Pass kicks off very quietly before it really comes to life with crushing guitar riffs and heavy pounding drums; a sheer beauty! Tuesday The Sky's debut album is a brave, very creative instrumental prog rock album that becomes better every time you listen to it. Play it on your headphones and you will be in for a surprise as this album shows - again - that Matheos is a very original, skilled, but also, still a much underrated guitarist. ***+ Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
