There's something about a metal band with prominent bass lines, and lots of changes that I just can't get enough of. While it's been years since we heard anything from Steve Flynn (formerly of Atheist) he's making a righteous return to the metal scene with his new band Gnostic. It's not easy to write about this demo without comparing it to Atheist, something I'm sure Flynn & co. knew would happen regardless of what they did. Atheist were and still are the pioneers of their genre, and Flynn had a heavy hand in it. This is not the Atheist lineup however (aside from Flynn). It's nice to know that after all these years Flynn still loves to play more or less the same style of timeless music, and better than ever (Even if we wanted to hear more of it 13 years ago!) and Gnostic is definitely a modernized version. I'm completely in love with the demo, in fact it's reminiscent of what we may have heard as a next episode of Atheist with Flynn on board.

This demo proves that you can blend metal, prog, jazz, into an interesting sonic fusion without being typically progressive, maintaining a heavy, yet technical sound. I always say I would be a huge prog fan if I could stand the typical prog vocalist's "balls-in-a-vice" vocals, Gnostic have gone with angry/shouty vocals from Kevin Freeman which are blend of a "thrash/hardcore" style. Many will criticize this as being the only bad point, I however feel the opposite, and you can't keep everyone happy all the time. Everything gels together nicely, but part of me still expects to hear Kelly Shaefer's witchy vocals. Speaking of which, he did have a hand in the production of this demo, and it is the first demo on his label Starrfactory Records.

Well I've never been much of one to comment on guitar playing (sorry guys!), but they definitely have some skilled axe men here. Sonny Carson & Todd Simpson seem to do a great job filling in what little gaps are left over with their intricate solos. I'm wondering what direction they will take on future endeavors, as they have recently swapped out Todd Simpson for Chris Baker, and I'm interested to hear what he brings to the mix.

The real win-me-over on this demo is the bass playing of Stephen Morley blended with Steve Flynn's fills. I can't get enough of it. More please. No, seriously guys, get to work. :)

This demo will probably sit at the top of my pile for some time to come yet. There are loads of mediocre sounding demos out there and this is definitely not one of them. Go get yourself a copy of this demo now!

-Yoda