SCOTT REEDER

Don't buy this expecting heavy-lidded riff rock along the lines of Scott Reeder's former bands, KYUSS and THE OBSESSED. Reeder may have auditioned for METALLICA, and you may see him pop up onstage with TOOL once in a while, but he's also a mellow, laid back guy who lives on a ranch out in the boonies and raises animals. He also records and produces bands (BLUEBIRD, GOATSNAKE, WHORES OF TIJUANA),and when he's had time over the last few years (eighteen, if the press release is to be believed),he's put in some work on this, his solo debut.

"Tunnelvision Brilliance" is one of the few true solo albums I've come across — every note you hear comes from the multi-talented Reeder himself. It's an eclectic stew of sounds, to be sure, with cool interludes and intros, catchy rock tunes with a Seventies feel, a little bit of new wave keyboard action, fairly lush and pretty acoustic stuff… There aren't a lot of albums that remind you of a David Gilmour solo album one song, BUILT TO SPILL next, then a snippet of a Goblin soundtrack, and FOO FIGHTERS a minute later!

Reeder's got a cool vibe going throughout "Tunnelvision Brilliance", though, so the whole thing hangs together cohesively, with a bit of swirling desert grit and sun-scorched psychedelic madness imprinted on everything. His voice is an agreeable, melodic croon, and he's got big warm layers of guitar, piano, and who knows what else permeating each song, giving things an amiably cluttered kitchen-sink vibe that only a dedicated studio cat could come up with.

Slot this next to similarly desert-addled, unclassifiable, thoroughly individual, idiosyncratic originals MASTERS OF REALITY — it's not metal, but then again, it's not really anything else, either, and ya get the feeling that's kind of the point. Take a trip with Reeder, do a little recreational mindwarping, look up at the stars, build a fire in the desert, and howl at the moon for a bit. "Tunnelvision Brilliance" is the textbook example of a labor of love, and it couldn't have been birthed any other way than from one man's love of, and total immersion in, the music.