Lion Music, 23rd January 2009

If 75-minute instrumentals are your thing, guitar virtuoso George Bellas has done a heckuva job catering specficially to your tastes with Step Into the Future.

What Bellas has cooked up here is a full course meal. There are countless treats for any metalhead with functional taste buds to sink his teeth into on Step Into the Future: It has great, varied beats, ever-changing moods and around three million solos on both the guitar and keyboard. No matter where one decides to take a bite--be it nine minutes in, where the action is slowed down and the solitary keyboard is accompanied by female chanting, or near the 37-minute mark, where one's mind will promptly be bent and sent into outer space--the ingredients are all quite tasty. But do they go well enough together for them to remain that for an hour and fifteen minutes?

Some claim that too many cooks spoil the food, so George Bellas has wisely opted to take everything into his own capable hands, except for the drumming, which is handled by the incomparable Marco Minnemann. The two master chefs' high cuisine is not for everyone, however. Step Into the Future is the equivalent of having someone refill your plate every time you eat up, with that person then refusing to let you leave until you've finished your meal. On the one hand, you do get a delicious feast out of it, but on the other, it gets gradually harder to digest what's coming and, as time goes on and you start bursting at the seams, it goes from indulgence to overindulgence; from a hobby to a task. Had Bellas fed us this track in smaller portions, Step Into the Future would have been much easier for the average consumer to swallow.

Provided you have the patience--and the munchies--necessary, this is sure to last you a long time. Wrapping your head around every intricacy on this sometimes jazzy, sometimes futuristic but always hyper-progressive release is virtually impossible, but with an hour and fifteen minutes worth of rations here, you should be all set for the remainder of the winter.
For more information: www.georgebellas.com