Artist: The Rebel Wheel Album: Diagramma Label: Private Release Website: http://www.therebelwheel.com Reviewer: Bill Knispel

The Rebel Wheel is a fairly new progressive rock band from Montreal. Diagramma is their second album release, but the first with their current line-up. Founded by David Campbell (guitar and vocals, additional keyboards), the current Rebel Wheel lineup includes bassist Gary Lauzon (formerly of Casse-Tete) and multi-instrumentalist Paul Joannis on guitars, keyboards, bass and drums. Also featured on Diagramma is Nethan Mahl drummer Alain Bergeron, who also contributes additional keyboards and vocals. The Rebel Wheel’s material is based on fairly traditional progressive rock foundations with contemporary rock and jazz-fusion elements added in. While often very traditional in structure, their material has a very contemporary sound and feel, adding freshness to what might have been an otherwise stale style. The five tracks on Diagramma range in style widely, from pastoral acoustic instrumentals to intense fusion-influenced workouts brimming with unison runs and counterpoint. The album is seemingly intentionally structured in a symmetrical manner, with a shorter vocal track and instrumental leading into a massive multi-part epic, then instrumental and vocal tracks leading out. “Threads” opens the album, and is a fairly heavy piece with incredibly prominent bass and guitar played down on the low strings. A skittering beat and sustained synth lines skimming overtop adds an air of claustrophobic paranoia to the proceedings, while stabbing organ chords sync with drum hits as vocals kick in. Campbell’s vocals seem/feel distant; his delivery is light and almost dreamlike, an interesting contrast with the dark and heavy musical backing that doesn’t quite work. The band really shines instrumentally as they shift moods easily; the intense paranoia of the vocal sections quickly gives way to a drum and bass section with wah-laced guitar, which shifts to an angular, overdriven guitar solo with heavy Adrian Belew inflections. The Rebel Wheel shifts gears entirely for the album’s first instrumental, “Three Valley Gap.” Gently pastoral with lots of acoustic guitars and strummed/plucked harmonics, it’s a welcome respite and breather from the intensity that “Threads” offers, albeit a shocking 180 in a lot of ways. I’m not sure how well this piece would translate in a live setting, but it offers up a strong piece of evidence that the band excels at creating atmosphere without bombast. The gentle mood is shattered as drums and evil, calliope-esque organ signal the beginning of the epic “Diagramma Suite.” This lengthy track shifts through a plethora of styles as the track evolves. A heavy section with organ stabs (reminiscent in a general sense to Dream Theater’s “Erotomania”) gives way to heavily processed vocals and synth heavy arrangements; this fades in a wash of ambient sound effects as mellotron chords and clean guitar evoke a strong King Crimson/early Genesis vibe. Campbell’s vocals here fit the music well with their fey-like dreaminess and distance. The band shows great restraint here, maintaining the gentle arrangements in a casual, almost off-hand way. The track swells as drums and a heavy bass groove provides backing for filtered, over-the-phone-line sounding vocals (a contemporary trick that Porcupine Tree’s Steven Wilson loves to use). The groove here is almost impossible to resist; I’ve caught myself giving into its charms a few times and swaying with it. All this and we’re only 8 and a half minutes into the track! “Diagramma Suite” shifts through an impressive series of styles and moods across its more than 20-minute duration. The variety of moods does lend an air of multiple short ideas played in sequence, yet they flow fairly smoothly, with few jarring transitions. I’m not totally convinced by the “open Windows” section, but it’s probably the only moment in the song that I was less than fully engrossed in what the band was doing. Diagramma’s second instrumental is the heavier “Tempra.” This track features some extensive Zappa-esque unison runs and excellent use of counterpoint between guitar and keys. Lauzon and Bergeron provide a solid groove for Campbell and Joannis to trade off solos over, while not being enslaved to that groove; they change things up and shift time as needed to simultaneously drive the track and add quirk and complexity. “Tempra” is an enjoyable fusion romp that draws as much from Mahavishnu and Return to Forever as it does from Zappa and King Crimson. The album closes with a final vocal track, the slightly more straight-forward “Hiding in Waiting.” Opening with ‘tron and organ chords, a slower vamp with breathy multi-tracked vocals gradually gives way to a funky reggae groove, then to a spacier, ambient interlude. The track’s guitar solo reminds me of Zappa in a lot of ways...short bursts of notes followed by sustained lines with slight tremelo. The track ends with a series of pedal tone guitar notes that fade, along with some sweeping synth tones, into digital silence. The Rebel Wheel offers a diverse selection of sounds and styles on the 43-minute Diagramma. Far from presenting a disjointed idea of what the band has to offer, it instead shows a group unafraid to mix things up. Strong songs and stronger playing mark this as an album well worth checking out. Band members: David Campbell - guitar, vocals, keyboards Gary Lauzon - bass Paul Joannis - guitars, keyboards, bass and drums Alain Bergeron - drums, keys and vocals