Qwestion - Y

Year of Release: 2002
Label: self-released
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 60:01:00

The basis for Qwestion was laid in Hattiesburg, [Mississippi], U.S.A., where Mike Griffith and John Hall met for the first time at a practice room where they had a jam session. However, due to circumstances, their cooperation ended in less than a year. After several years, Mike got a phone call from John and things moved back in the right direction. By 1999 the band had a new base, in Muskegon, [Michigan] and now finally we have the music they created on a silver disc, their debut album Y.

Y is an instrumental album with only three musicians: Mike Griffith on bass, John Hall on guitar, a drummer (the booklet does not say who). They also have a guest musician with a very unusual instrument: turntables. The eight tracks of the album mainly give the impression of a jam session, improvised music, especially the first track, "The Mask," which is built up of shredding guitar, throbbing bass and drums. But the next track is quite different, with a soft guitar part, and scratching. This scratching, although a bit less, is also heard in "Chaos Theory," a track where Griffith gets more room, while the guitar and drums are moved a bit more to the background. "A Little Swim Before The Walk (Into)," is the shortest and weirdest song on the album: a guy singing in the shower.

"Forest Of The Norm" is one of the two longest tracks (11:58) and knows several breaks and changes in the melody, and heavy guitar riffs. "Muse" is a bit of a spacey track, played by Mike Griffith, which I find one of the better tracks on the album. "3oNe2" continues like "Muse," but adds the shredding guitar and the drums to it and this song has a nice bass solo in the middle. The last and longest track "Yachacha" (13:46), which combines all the previously mentioned elements and ends with two minutes of silence, followed by a conversation between Griffith and Hall ... about I subject I prefer not to mention here.

Y is an album like I have never heard, so you could say it is very original. However, the guitar parts are mainly shredding riffs, but no solos whatsoever. That is something I really miss on the album. I find it hard to say whether I like it or not, so I think you must do the same. Just beware, it is a raw album with heavy, shredding guitars, bass, drums and scratches. So you'd better listen to some samples first, before you buy this one.

[This review originally appeared September 2003 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:
The Mask (7:01) / Freeprov (3:05) / Chaos Theory (9:42) / A Little Swim Before The Walk (Into) (1:25) / Forest Of The North (11:58) / Muse (3:39) / 3ONE2 (6:35) / YacHacha (13:46)

Musicians:
Mike Griffith - bass
John Hall - guitar
TBD - percussion

Guest:

Jimmy Rad - turntable

Discography:
Y (2002)

Genre: Progressive-Power Metal

Origin US

Added: January 17th 2005
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.qwestion.net
Hits: 2957
Language: english