Well, after writing all the names from the guest musicians, I had to take a long breath, and two cigarettes before starting this review.

Here, you have "Back to Balance", a solo album from KOEN HERFST, a known Dutch drummer that plays on CYPHER, DEW-SCENTED, HDK and I CHAOS, to name a few. But bet aware: Koen is known as well for his playing with aggressive and distorted Metal bands, but here, the things are really different from his usual work.

Here, we can hear a Progressive Metal orientation, with a good technical and melodic form (sometimes, we can even feel the presence of Jazz music influences). We also have very good guitars riffs, heavy and technical bass guitars, fine keyboard parts and even some violin moments. Of course we can hear that the drums are being more technical than on other Koen works. These melodies are really good, but you all must take care: with this high number of guests, the songs can sound almost like they have no connection to each other. But it's a solo project, and so, this feature can be understood and accepted.

Produced and mixed by Michiel Eilbracht and Koen Herfst at Nutsville Noise Lab, with the mastering done by the hands of Darius van Helfteren at Amsterdam Mastering, the sonority of the album is dry and really good. The good tunes make the drums evident, but without erasing the other musical instruments. Of course it's not perfect, but is in a very good shape, indeed.

The seven songs of "Back to Balance" are all good in their ways. But the technical "Here I Am" (with very good guitar arrangements and vocals), the Progressive aggressiveness heard on "Erase or Rewind" (a good work on vocals, and very heavy drumming, indeed), the abrasive and heavy melodies of "I Don't Need to Tell You" (charming slow tempos and catching vocals), and the technical and progressive "Begone".

It's a good work, so play it loud as you can.