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Bob Katsionis > Turn of My Century > Reviews
Bob Katsionis - Turn of My Century

Kids These Days… - 74%

OzzyApu, July 9th, 2007

…You leave them alone and they cause a mess of things all over the place. Babis’ parents left him a keyboard, and boy oh boy was the lad grinning from ear to ear. What we have here is a dose of neoclassic progressivism, or in other words “keyboard wankery.” There aren’t even any vocals present anywhere on here (Well, except a couple small scenes…but still!)! The drumming is sequenced people, give me a break…

…and the century turns…

All right enough with the bad-mouthing, this guy is the bomb. All the years of classical studying outside of school and our product is a virtuoso giving most keyboardists a run for their money. Its one thing to play fast, but can you make a tune out of it? Katsionis apparently made seventeen of them, though I can’t say that they’re really consistent. You see, there isn’t a unified sound our theme regarding Turn Of My Century. Not to say that’s particularly wrong or anything, but such a step leaves an album with pretty different sounding tracks ranging from rather humorous, spacey, oriental, or as if they came straight from a retro video game.

Although Bob supplies guitar duties with a 7-stringer, but the use is ultimately useless as the guitars do nothing more but supply the rhythm. Sometimes bob will pop out a shredding scene, but it still remains second nature. Now although the bass is existent and audible under this collage (believe it or not), it still goes about its business unnoticed. Each track is clearly a keyboard driven adventure, all of which I can say is pretty darn catchy (apparently the goal, no doubt). The keyboard does all the talking here folks, and the pace is usually faster than DragonForce’s picking.

Each song isn’t extremely long like on this album’s successor, but seventeen tracks sure is a library. Not to mention that the album is nearly an hour, so you better have some time on your hands if you’re going to hear this in its entirety. Not that it’ll matter though, as each track is unique and, if it’s lucky, will garner your attention in remembering “that one tune in that one song.” Sadly it’s true – every song has keyboard surfing, making it frustrating to tell which song has that “one tune.” Regardless, I’ll come clean and say that vocals would never fit on an album like this (Cacophony should have taken notes) and there isn’t a problem with the drum programming; The time pattern and thud of every tool on the kit is true and rich to the original sound (do not deny the skill of a drum program).

Lastly, you’ll definitely have fun with this record, whether getting up and dancing to its near-techno beats or by trying to keep up with the entire speed metal symphony. For all the crocodiles in the world out yonder, look no further – your meat is right here.