By: MJ Brady
erhaps this is the first and/or only fusion band from Greece? At least the only one I am aware of. Confusion are a three piece electric fusion ensemble, with some guests doing some keyboards and vocals. They play contemporary hard edged fusion that seems to borrow as much from 70's era Bruford, during the Holdsworth, Stewart, Berlin years, as it does from more recent bands like Tribal Tech, Fragile(Japan) & The Code. There are also some Brand X-like modes occuring throughout the CD. Guitarist - Achilleas Diamantis, also contributes on guitar synth and keyboard programming, his playing is holding down many responsibilties here, rhythmically he uses phrasings, and effects heavy voicings to give the illusion of a keyboardist, he also is the color in the band, playing the designed melodies to give each song a personality, and he also is a top shelf soloist, that reminds me of Holdsworth at times, Henderson, and even Goodsall, he is his own player, but for comparisons sake, he can sound like all three of these heavyweights at one time. Bassist - Panagiotis Haramas, is also an important part of the Confusion sound, he plays with a confidence that evokes thoughs of Berlin, Willis, and Larue, his bass is never in the background, but upfront with Diamatis' guitar work, he is able to flow with the more fluid jazzrock elements in the music tastefully, and also plays some mean slap bass for the funk driven parts of the music. Takas Inkas, is the bands drummer and also has the easiest name to spell! He holds the technical parts of the band together, which are many, seldom does the music meander, giving little space for improvisational drumming, he plays within the confines of structure by building polyrhythms over polyrhythms, this ability gives even more depth to Confusion's sound. Keyboards, and/or keyboard sounds are present throughout the CD, though never as a main feature, the only serve to compliment the talents of Haramas, and Diamantas. Overall, this is a very good debut, there are certain songs like Where R U?, Spunky, Sick, The Fool, & Occupational Hazard, that show the bands strengths as composers, these are the songs that appear to have the most technical structure, and in turn give Confusion the tangibles to be more than a band of jam artists. Overall, I'd say this cd is definetly one for fans of the bands listed here, while it is not a classic for the fusion genre, it certainly merits the attention of fans of hard, progressive fusion, easily one that will appeal to anyone who likes these bands: Tribal Tech, The Code, Bruford, Ronny Heimdall, Network, Fragile, Mr. Motaba and Warp 3.
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