As we did a short while ago with Shabti, let’s get questions of pedigree out of the way quickly so we can move onto the music itself. Eternity’s End, a furious prog/power generator, is made up of (deep breath): Iuri Sanson (from the excellent, if lesser known, Hibria in his…
Ever heard of Scholomance? Their tenure lasted between 1995 and 2003, and they were way ahead of their time. Helmed by keyboard player extraordinaire Jimmy Pitts (Eternity’s End, Equipoise, NYN), their brand of progressive death metal was fantastic. Unfortunately, they broke up, but that never stopped Jimmy. He’s been working with a host of talented musicians, including Hannes Grossmann and Danny Tunker of Alkaloid, Carl August Tidemann (ex-Arcturus), Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschläger (Defeated Sanity, ex-Obscura), Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower, Blotted Science), Vishal J Singh (Amogh Symphony), Phil Tougas (First Fragment), Jerry Twyford (Scholomance, Pitts Minnemann Project) and more! Does that line-up make you dizzy? If so, check out the song below the jump, and contribute to their crowd-funder here! Be quick, as there’s only a few days left!
I’m not sure if this disclaimer is even necessary anymore, but just in case: NYN, an excellent death metal project all on its own is also the brain child of Noyan Tokgözoğlu, one of our chief editors and a good friend of mine. Regardless, as with previous releases, I am recommending new music from NYN based on its merit; I truly believe that the project upcoming album, Entropy: Of Chaos and Salt, is huge step up in the project’s history and is an amazing album of technical music. Don’t believe me? What about if I told that none other than Tom Geldschläger (ex-Obscura, Fountainhead) not as an album contributor but as a full fledged member of the project? And what if I added Jimmy Pitts (Scholomance, Pitts Minnemann Project) on keyboards, lending the entire album a veneer of elegance and pomposity? I bet you’re interested now. Head on down below for even more details.
Not every supergroup works. Sometimes, when you put really talented people together, they do the musical equivalent of people talking over each other, and the end result is confusing and less than a sum of its parts. When you put together Jimmy Pitts (Scholomance, Eternity’s End), Marco Minnemann (Necrophagist, The Aristocrats, Steven Wilson, Paul Gilbert, so many more), Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschlager (Fountainhead, Nader Sadek, Obscura) and Jerry Twyford (Scholomance), that’s a very impressive line-up and at a glance this project could go anywhere. Well, it goes to amazing places full of jazz fusion and old-school progressive metal. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
We have two very special guests today! Jimmy Pitts and Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschlager, who are involved in so many projects that it’s kind of ridiculous. Between them, they’ve worked with Christian Muenzner, Hannes Grossmann, Obscura, Spastic Ink, Scholomance, Nader Sadek, Cerebric Turmoil and many more. Jimmy’s currently playing keyboards for Muenzner’s power metal band Eternity’s End, and him and Tom are currently crowd funding the Pitts Minneman Project’s new album, The Psychic Planetarium on Indiegogo. Top notch prog metal/jazz fusion. We invited them over to have a chat about their projects, but of course it all devolves into talking about a whole slew of topics, and we had a great time!
Me and fellow editor Nick are always on the lookout for more jazz fusion. A lot of progressive metal has jazz influences, but those usually feel more like metal with jazz on the side, whereas pure jazz metal is hard to find. Enter Pitts Minnemann Project, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an instrumental prog/jazz fusion project featuring Jimmy Pitts of Scholomance and Marco Minnemann of, well, every band ever (Necrophagist, Ephel Duath, Joe Satriani and more). Also in the lineup are Tom “Fountainhead” Geldschlager on guitar (including fretless guitar, which he also played on the latest Obscura album) and Jerry Twyford (Scholomance). Excited yet? Well, their new track “Imaginary Numbers” off their upcoming crowd-funded album The Psychic Planetarium is a delightful jazz piece with tasteful sax and trumpet usage. I mean, can it be any more enticing?
