Gianluca Ferro (Time Machine, Arkhé, Doomsword) has finished his debut solo album, which is a compilation of nine guitar instrumentals and one instrumental without guitar. Unlike most guitarists, Ferro concentrates more on composing rather than inventing new ways to showcase his technical skills. Actually he doesn't have to prove his skills anymore, since anyone who has heard the two previous Time Machine albums knows what Ferro is capable of. Therefore, Ferro's Involution is quite a mature piece of work that presents his creativity and artistry, and especially the originality of his ideas.

The music on this album is mainly an innovative mixture of instrumental rock, progressive rock, jazz and fusion. The scope of material is really extensive, since there are everything from groovy heavy tunes and progressive fusion songs with futuristic harmonies to soothing laid-back melodies as well as jazzy improvisations. In addition, all of the songs on this album are rather atmospheric. Jabba, for example, is one of the heaviest tunes on this album, and is surrounded by an eerie atmosphere.

Involution is quite well produced album, although the sounds still could have been further honed. At times there are some lo-fi sounds used, but they were intended to be the icing on the cake. Both the mixing and mastering was handled by Andrea De Bernardi at Villapomini. One should note that with quality headphones this album doesn't sound as good as with near-field monitors - for example, the drums are cut off from the left speaker on Jabba, which doesn't sound too good with headphones but with monitors it isn't too obtrusive. Besides, the recordings aren't clinically clean but that's actually a good thing since warmth is more desirable than recordings that lack any kind of atmosphere.

Overall, Gianluca Ferro's Involution is quite an intriguing guitar-oriented instrumental album that should appeal to guitarists who take playing somewhat seriously and want to take their art to the next level... occasionally Ferro's leads on this album remind me of Dream Theater's John Petrucci while at times they're more similar to Steve Vai's and Joe Satriani's work. In addition, every now and then the music on this album even reminds me of Frank Zappa. Involution is a diverse album, which should find its way to each guitarists' collection.

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- MAGE (May 26th, 2005)

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LINE-UP:
Ferro, Gianluca: Guitars, Bass, Programming Del Vecchio, Alessandro: Keyboards on Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 & 9 Zingrillo, Andrea: Drums on Tracks 1 & 9 McGill, Scott: Guest Guitar Solos on Tracks 1, 2 & 9 Percich, Sigfrido: V-drums on Tracks 2, 3 & 8, Drums on Tracks 4, 7 & 10 Bianchi, Eliseo: Fretless Bass on If You Follow Me Riotti, Claudio: Drums on Ammonia Drink Bonomo, Andrea: Programming on Lame's Waltz Plebani, Thomas: Bass on Tracks 7 & 8 Bollati, Alberto: Bass on Focus
Producer:	Ferro, Gianluca
Mixing by:	De Bernardi, Andrea
Mastering by:	De Bernardi, Andrea

	TRACKLIST:
	01. Informal Logic 02. Q3 03. Mechanized Consciousness Algorith 04. If You Follow Me 05. Ammonia Drink 06. Lame's Waltz 07. Abstract Knowledge Level 08. Jabba 09. Focus 10. Aisthesis Length: 52:27