Hailing from Italy, Concept Project is an instrumental trio on a young domestic label SG Records that play a rather unpretentious fusion of Blues, Rock’n’Roll and Funk with a bit of Hard Rock and Jazz components. I doubt this style of music will go down too well with the average Metal fan, yet it might afford some pleasure to those who like classic style heavier rock using these styles.

At the same time this is a well recorded and mixed collection of simply constructed, short instrumentals plying a psychotic voyage between 60’s and 70’s rock music styles and played exclusively with guitars, bass and drums. As the words “novelty” and “inventiveness” are entirely alien terms on this record, it is chiefly based on pure enthusiasm that the musicians show while trying to tie up the well-known Blues and Rock’n’Roll tunes with Hard Rock sounding leads, unexpected rhythmic changes and brief jazzy breaks. Sometimes, there’s even a feeling they have intentionally disregarded any new musical trends which have appeared within the past thirty years.

As a fan of heavier and more energetic music, I mostly found this self titled album not fitting my tastes and can hardly imagine wanting to get back to it in the future. Of the ten tracks, I can only put up with a pretty enjoyable bass lick a la Queen found on the Hard Rock bluesy number “Don’t Cut The Tree”, interesting R&B vibe on “Stop The Funk” and the band’s own rock-ish transcription of Mozart’s famous “Turkish March” called “Rock March” here. Maybe, there still exist people who take pleasure in such opuses, but personally I would like something far more challenging and creative on an instrumental album than just a bow of reverence before the shadows of the past.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments