One track into this album and I'm already stunned. I guess my personal collection of instrumental guitar albums is reasonably comprehensive but "Tranz-Fused" is one of those gems that really got my adrenaline flowing.

Lion Music described this music as 'Fusion'.....sure enough it seamlessly interweaves a variety of genres such as Neo-Classical Metal and Jazz. At this point in the review, the acute reader will have guessed that the technical level of "Tranz-Fused" is considered by this reviewer as top-notch. And indeed it's not just Michael that shines - one of the strong points of the album is that it is blessed with a stellar line-up. For example at one point in the album I kept telling myself that the bassist was as good as the bass player of CAB (Dennis Chambers/Brian Auger/Bunny Brunel). I then glanced at the press-sheet to discover that I was in fact listening to Bunny Brunel (Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gloria Estefan, .....)!

The rest of the band includes drummers Mike Haid and Marco Minneman (George Bellas, Necrophagist, Terry Bozzio,.....) and bass players Adam Nitti, David Harbour and James Martin. As for Michael Harris his guitar techniques range from neo-classical legatos to Joe Pass-style string picking to the emotional cool Jazz / Bluesy melodies of 'Blue Shift'. His background is in Metal, though, and I think this fact is omnipresent throughout the album. Besides playing in a handful of obscure Metal bands, in the past Mr Harris had also collaborated with David Chastain, Vitalij Kuprij and Ted Leonard of Prog Metal band Enchant.

Jazz, Metal, Blues, Funk......any way you slice it, "Tranz-Fused" is the real deal.