Band : Michael Harris
Album title : Tranz-Fused
Label : Lion Music
Distributor : Bertus
Release date : 15/10/2010
Release : CD

Oh my, has it really been since 2003's Words Collide that I came across a solo album by this truly great guitarist? Darn, that excludes my possibility to guide you to an older review with a history of the guy, so I'll have to give you a short recap (adaptation from the artist's page at Wikipedia), right?

A native of Dayton, Ohio, Harris had himself noted for the first tie when he contributed guitar to the Leather album Shock Waves (1989). He had formed his own Hard Rock band Arch Rival in 1986, and delivered a total of 3 albums (1991's In the Face Of Danger, 1993's Wake Up Your Mind, and 1997's Third Degree Burns, plus an untitled EP in 2008) which had a certain degree of popularity in Europe and Japan. As the first AR album got released, Harris had gotten an interest in personal explorations of instrumental Neoclassical and Progressive Metal work, and he released his first solo album Defense Mechanizms that same year through the Leviathan label. A year later he was invited by David T. Chastain to create their live guitar duo album Live! Wild And Truly Diminished!!. On the solo front, more albums would follow (mostly real solo recordings, although sòme additional talent would occasionally be invited) with 1996's Ego Decimation Profile, 1999's Distorted Views, 2001's Sketches From the Torture Chamber, 2003's Words Collide  and Hurricane X, and 2006's Orchestrate. Albums which he promoted live with his band The Michael Harris Project, which evolved to the steady line-up of The Michael Harris Tranz-Fusion in 2001.

In between, Harris formed Surgeon in 1995 to play extreme Heavy Metal. The band's only album Encyclopedia Of The Insane was released one year later. The guitarist also occasionally lent his talents to other bands/ artists, playing on 2 Zanister albums (1999's Symphonica Millennia and 2001's Fear No Man), and on 3 Vitalij Kuprij records to date (2004's Forward And Beyond, 2005's Revenge, and 2007's Glacial Inferno). In more recent years Harris formed 2 new groups. First came Progressive Metal act Thought Chamber, which released its debut album Angular Perceptions in 2007 through Inside Out (review by yours truly posted on 22/03 of that year), and the news is they're currently making a sophomore release. The second Metal band he started is called Darkology, and they released their debut Altered Reflections in November of last year (that's one that went by us unknowingly).

With Tranz-Fused, Harris delivers his first all Fusion album. Although the overtones are mainly Jazz Fusion Rock, there's also elements from Prog, Metal, the occasional Bluesey tingue, and even some Funk elements (mainly in the very expressively played bass). Collaborating to the recordings are bassists Adam Nitti, David Harbour, James Martin, and Bunny Brunel. Drums come from Mike Haid and Marco Minneman, and the keyboard solo on album opening track “Seizure Salad” was done by Bernard Wright. Inspirations for the album were sought with some of the truly greats: Clint Strong, John Scofield, Pat Martino, Al Di Meola, Scott Henderson, and Jeff Beck, and it's a pity you will not be able to hear any complete tracks at Harris' MySpace page (there's some older material, though), and will have to make due with the samples posted at the album's page at any of the trusted online sales websites (I happen to know that Amazon.com provides 30-second samples of all songs)! I've always been a fan of instrumental music...in fact I've always favoured it to vocal music, because overall the participating musicians are able to concentrate to their instrumental play more than in songs, needing to have their guitar (or keyboard) do their wordless “singing” in stead of a vocalist! And that's why, almost invariably, you'll find instrumental albums in my year-lists!

98/100

Tony.