Atavachron by Allan Holdsworth.
My Millennial Coworker loaned me this album and I have been, I won’t say “avoiding” exactly, but I have been procrastinating listening to it.
Anyway, the name comes from a Star Trek episode, “All Our Yesterdays,” wherein the “Atavachron” is an alien time travel device.
On this album Holdworth deploys the “Synth-Axe”, a guitar shaped midi controller, an instrument which would become his signature on several albums. The synth axe allows him to trigger synthesizers/samplers using events generated from his fretboard.
This is a fine example of Sci-Fi inspired 80s Rock-Fusion, with all the sign posts of that genre. Many chords and many, many notes.
Impressive, in many ways, but also feels a bit slight in the goals all these impressive techniques are applied towards. More technique than meaning, if you will.
#TodaysCommuteSoundtrack #AllanHoldsworth #Atavachron #SynthAxe
