« Spiraless » is a three man jazz-fusion instrumental rock band from Reunion Island. They have released their debut album, a self-titled 10-track CD full of emotional, entertaining progressive guitar based music. The songs range from straight up jazz to rock as well as easy listening contemporary. The first thing to describe to fans of instrumental guitar is what this Spiraless album is not. It certainly is not a shred guitar effort like the recent efforts from Francesco Fareri or Jeff Urso. It is more similar to calmer more serious efforts from Steve Vai or Joe Satriani or even fusion bands like Niacin or Ohm. Much of the record is more under the heading of “mood” music featuring delicate deep tones from the guitars with a strong bass guitar line, almost like what you may have heard in a lounge in the late ‘70s. The CD starts with the cut “Excite Me” which is more straight ahead and full of speedy guitar histrionics then most of the albums songs. The playing here may remind you of the legendary Uli Roth. It also sees some really nice and subtle bass work from Kevin Gobin. Up next is “Fusion Illusion” which has a cool short melody repeated dozens of times and the guitar that is tore up is a part of the big picture not an attempt for a masturbation solo. The tones of the keyboards used here are almost Q-Bert like and are over top of some serious background shred work. The third track “Smooth Desire” is the one that is the best representative of the whole album as the guitar starts out with pretty single notes and the bass lays down a barely audible yet funky line. When the guitars do start to play a bigger role sustained notes like what you would hear on a Satriani love song are delivered clean and effectively. There is some shred at the end of the song but it is so tasteful that it is almost used as a rhythm strictly for the songs benefit. The rest of the record is very similar to these cuts and uses varying levels of fusion staples to ultimately succeed. Overall this record is a good, clean, quality effort from these newcomers to the instrumental fusion world. »
« Hardrock Haven »
« Spiraless » are a musical project built around the talented guitar duo of Atanas Shishkov and Todor Peev. Joining them on this, their debut as Spiraless, is Kevin Gobin who contributes bass guitar, keyboards and drums. The music of Spiraless has its roots planted firmly in the genre described as jazz/rock fusion. For many the words jazz and fusion conjure up musical visions of technical chord progressions draped over tempos that require the listener to have a degree in math to fathom out. There are no such moments however in the music of Spiraless, instead the music is all about melody and spontaneity wrapped up in a manner that makes their music accessible and ultimately joyful. OK so both Atanas and Todor have great technique that they flaunt in flamboyant fashion but thankfully never at the expense of the song. This self titled album features ten tracks all of which have slightly different flavours due to each of the two guitarists having a slightly different “touch” and perhaps because of this the album unleashes some wonderful moments most especially on opening track “Excite Me” where the guitar solo literally flies skywards thanks to some great legato and crisp and clean position shifts. Elsewhere “Smooth Desire” also features some almost liquid like playing that brings to mind the spirit of Joe Satriani at his most fluid. The nice thing about this album is that the performances have a nice live feel to them. You can almost see the pair of six stringers “going for it” and, although there are moments when some of the bends and licks fall short, credit must be given as they have kept these “takes” perhaps because of the feel rather than musical perfection. All in all a great release that for the most part hits the spot and showcases two talents that we will hear more from in the future. »
« Hardrock Haven »
« Spiraless » are a musical project built around the talented guitar duo of Atanas Shishkov and Todor Peev. Joining them on this, their debut as Spiraless, is Kevin Gobin who contributes bass guitar, keyboards and drums. The music of Spiraless has its roots planted firmly in the genre described as jazz/rock fusion. For many the words jazz and fusion conjure up musical visions of technical chord progressions draped over tempos that require the listener to have a degree in math to fathom out. There are no such moments however in the music of Spiraless, instead the music is all about melody and spontaneity wrapped up in a manner that makes their music accessible and ultimately joyful. OK so both Atanas and Todor have great technique that they flaunt in flamboyant fashion but thankfully never at the expense of the song. This self titled album features ten tracks all of which have slightly different flavours due to each of the two guitarists having a slightly different “touch” and perhaps because of this the album unleashes some wonderful moments most especially on opening track “Excite Me” where the guitar solo literally flies skywards thanks to some great legato and crisp and clean position shifts. Elsewhere “Smooth Desire” also features some almost liquid like playing that brings to mind the spirit of Joe Satriani at his most fluid. The nice thing about this album is that the performances have a nice live feel to them. You can almost see the pair of six stringers “going for it” and, although there are moments when some of the bends and licks fall short, credit must be given as they have kept these “takes” perhaps because of the feel rather than musical perfection. All in all a great release that for the most part hits the spot and showcases two talents that we will hear more from in the future. »
« Spiraless » are an international instrumental fusion trio founded in 2006 and made up of Todor Peev: known also as Blue2you (guitar), Atanas Shishkov (guitar) and Kevin Gobin (bass guitar, keys, drums). At the very beginning, I must sincerely admit that it is the best album with the participation of a Bulgarian guitar virtuoso - Atanas Shishkov. His guitar neck up-and-down-slipping is simply exquisite. The sound is excellently polished up and caressed. Even though it is a world-level fusion, Atanas tries to smuggle the Balkan folk and blues rock music influences to his playing and does it very well. Their variety of fusion is melodic, quiet and romantic. Thanks to all instrumentalists' superior technical skills, they deserved to rise to fusion first-division status. Believe me, they play in the same league Frank Gambale, Allan Holdsworth and Scott Henderson strikes the strings!»
« Departement of Virtuosity »