By: Wayne Klinger
rgue with me all you want but I put this guy on top of the hep of all keybard players; Mistheria, Rudess and Sherinian I'm speaking of as far as who I would put this guy above. Vitalij has the "Midas Touch" whenever he puts his own material out or works with Artension or any guitar player's solo album (check out Howe and Bellas releases for Vitalij). "Forward And Beyond" is just another chapter to add as far as him working with guitarists. The catch on this one however is Vitalij works with some new blood (for him anyway) as well as some of his close friends from the past (George Bellas for one). Michael Romeo is on here (Symphony X) as well as Jeff Kollman, Francesco Fareri, Michael Harris, Borislav Mitic and Javier Leal. There's even a couple tracks on here where Vitalij does some amazingly fast and complex Classical pieces on the piano. I liked this album for the simple reason Vitalij works with all these other guitarists and there's just that instant cohesion in the songwriting and duelling trade-offs. The majority is of Neo-Classical/Progressive Instru-Metal nature but a few tracks stretch other boundaries of music genres. Very refreshing stuff and a definate wizard of the keys once you get a good listen.
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