Tunnelvision Brilliance＜Sea Blue Vinyl＞

The debut solo album from a prior member of both Kyuss and the Obsessed should be an easy one to pin down. Must be heavily Sabbath-influenced, with slow tempos and detuned riffs, right? Wrong. While the solo debut from Scott Reeder, 2006's TunnelVision Brilliance, does contain a few nods to the mighty Sabbath (most notably lyrically and vocally), it is certainly not your average doom metal release. The reason for this departure can be attributed to two factors. Firstly, Reeder penned and performed every single track on TunnelVision. And secondly, the album is a collection of tracks that Reeder compiled over the years, which simply did not fit into the stylistic plans of his respective band at the time. As a result, Reeder immediately breaks away from the expected game plan from the get-go, as evidenced by the modern-day psychedelic sounds of "Thanks." Further sonic surprises continue throughout, including the brief Middle Eastern-sounding instrumental "Away," the drum machine-driven "For Renee" (which sounds almost like modern-day Todd Rundgren at times), plus acoustic guitar/voice and bass/voice ditties ("When?" and "Queen of Greed," respectively). Instead of filling up all the empty spots with fuzzy bass, mammoth riffs, and hollered vocals, Reeder favors "space" on TunnelVision Brilliance, and comes up with an album that certainly stands out from the rest of the doom/stoner metal pack. ~ Greg Prato