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Released
December 7th 2007
LMC222
EAN6419922002223
Michael Harris is one of the most acclaimed
instrumental guitarists going thanks to a number of
solo releases over the last 2 decades and his current
prog metal band Thought Chamber. His 2006 Lion Music
release “Orchestrate” received scorching reviews from
media worldwide, so why has Michael decided to
re-release his 1996 work “Ego Decimation Profile”
First of all, this release is a remixed, re-mastered,
and repackaged version. Michael remixed and
re-mastered the CD myself. On the remix and
remastering Michael states, “EDP originally came
out in the 90s, when a drier mix was in vogue, so one
of my goals in remixing the record was to get a more
ambient sound overall, (especially on the lead guitars
and drums). My goals were also to get a better drum
tone, to get a “rounder” sound overall, and to use the
stereo field a bit more with things like stereo delays
and panning”.
Stylistically, “EDP” is a combination of metal, prog,
funk, groove, and jazz fusion and is considered
Harris’ heaviest instrumental disc to date, as there
is a running “metal” influence in all of the songs,
although it does contain 3 of Michael’s personal
favourite slower numbers in “Grandscape”, “Pawn
to King IV”, and “Terminus Epic”. Melody and
composition was Michael’s primary focus on the CD. As
progressive as it gets at times, Harris tried to never
go too over the top with flashy solos or intricate
parts. The album was also an open invitation to great
musicianship from the other players and to achieve
that many of the tracks were purposely composed with
sections that had trade-offs.
On Michael’s aim with the album he states, “It was
to blend rock, prog, jazz fusion, groove, funk, and
neo classical all with melody and lots of guitar.
Other than the opening piece, “Forewarning”, there are
not a lot of keyboards on the record. My goal on any
of my instrumental records is that the compositions
are strong, the melodies are original and memorable,
and that I’m not just showing how many notes I can
play on guitar”.
MICHAEL'S
TRACK BY TRACK ANALYSIS
01)
Forewarning – “Forewarning” was a
compositional turning point for me. I envisioned
composing a very heavy, progressive, and orchestrated
piece, which I achieved with “FW”, and I consider it
my first “mini-symphony”. Rob Stankiewicz played a
great drum track and I played all the other
instruments. For this remixed version, I actually
re-recorded the steel string acoustic guitar intro
with a nylon string. This was the only part on the
whole record that I re-recorded.
02) Vicious
Uppercut – Being heavy and fast with
progressive touches, “Vicious” felt like a good follow
up to “Forewarning” and set the tone for the disc.
03)
Stratus-Fear – The theme to this piece was
the chorus, which was based on a G#-E riff that I’d
had sitting around for awhile which really blossomed
when I thought of the melody on top of it. Then I
wrote the progressive middle section which has a
triplet feel.
04) Julius
Seizure – Even before “Defense Mechanizms”,
I’d had a vision of fusing metal with jazz (my father
being a jazz musician), and “Julius” really typified
what I was trying to achieve. I also wanted to include
a clean jazz break in a heavy tune, and patiently
waited for the right inspiration for such a break to
be included in this piece. Keith Carlock just smoked
on this one. Although at the time he was relatively
unknown, I’d recruited him based on his great
reputation. As amazing as he was even back then, I
don’t think anyone could have predicted the success
his future would bring. He eventually moved to NY and
has since played with John Scofield, Steely Dan, and
Sting.
05) Pawn to
King IV – Based on counterpoint-esque and
classical-esque melodies achieved with all volume
swells, I haven’t done a piece like this before or
since. I’d had a demo stashed away for quite some
time, so I refined it a bit, and it ended up being a
nice dynamic for the record.
06)
Grandscape – This sounded very soundtrack-esque
– the melodies, feel, and lead guitar tone were most
important to me. It’s relatively simple and one of my
favourites on the record.
07) Hair On
the E String – This title is a take off of
Bach’s “Air On the G String”. The song is not
neo-classical however, but metal-esque with a main
theme that is in lydian mode and a progressive
midsection with great drumming from Rob.
08) Freudian
Trip – I’ve enjoyed playing funk for years,
and I’d consider “Freudian” to be a metal funk tune.
Keith and David were right at home on this one and it
was just plain fun.
9) Brainwarp: The heaviest tune on the record. I knew it
would be perfect for Matt Thompson on drums. My middle
solo starts with one of my favourite and most insane
licks.
10) Terminus
Epic:
Definitely one of my faves on the record. I spent a
lot of time arranging it. For quite awhile, I had
wanted to compose a rapid solo or break that was all
natural harmonics, which I did in this midsection,
kind of a “song within a song”.
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