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”.
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”.
|