There is definitely a lot of fusion in this album. World music and other things are also heard. It’s Allan Holdsworth, so it’s great, but in a lot of ways it’s not really what one might expect. There is a lot less guitar here than you generally figure on hearing with Holdsworth. All in all, though, it’s quite a good disc, if a bit understated. Of course, the second part of the title should give that away.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2013  Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.

There is a real industrial, meaning it sounds like the pounding of a factory in the background here. Holdsworth’s guitar weaves noisy lines of music over the top of that.

More of a pure fusion jam, this still has some weird elements at play. It’s a little noisy, too.

I’m reminded a lot of Pat Metheny on this melodic fusion tune. It gets a lot of energy and it’s really one of the coolest pieces here. It works through several changes and flavors and is just plain cool.

Melodic and slow, this is keyboard dominated. It gets a bit weird and dissonant at times, but overall is pretty straightforward.

There are bits of world music in this somehow. It’s also more of a pure jazz number.

Much of this is almost purely atmospheric. There’s a section with soloing, though. There’s also a section that feels like processed choral voices being synthesized.