A lot of music fans would probably be pretty surprised to learn of the inside trials and tribulations of the industry, and what a personal and financial toll it takes on many bands just to be able to get their music out. Those trials certainly played a role in the debut album from the Instrumental Progressive Metal trio KNIFE THE GLITTER, from Rockaway, New Jersey, USA, as they recently released their debut album, eight years in the making, and announced it as both their first and final album. With song titles like "Bumble Bee Infant," and "Permanent Baby Snowpants," it is evident we are in for both a fun and wild ride.

It's also an album that demands your full attention and musical intellectual repertoire. Charging at you first are the punchy and off beat rhythms of "Idiot City." Though at first you might mistake it for disorganized, the structure is strong but shifting. Don't try to over analyze the time meters however as it would prove an exercise in futility. Instead, jump aboard and just let it take you along for ride, flowing with some of the sharp twists and turns. "Gargle Clamp" is about as eccentric as the title sounds. Correct me if I am wrong, but does the song open in a 7/4 time signature? While the professor teaches the complexities of advanced algorithm mathematics at the chalk board, the subjects are consumed by the heavy dissonance. The cadence is actually quite fascinating.

"Bumble Bee Infant" is a raucous track with a lot of beef in the low end from bass and drums, and chunky guitar riffs by Kevin Antreassian that eat up the space around you with each chord strike. You've seen the photo of the illusionary picture of the "never ending staircase" haven't you? Where it appears that they never lead anywhere except back to the start in a never ending loop? That is the illusion of the track as well. But if you listen deeper, you can find the connections in the chord progressions. "Highly Electric Squirrel" has a grinding and deliberate pace, where the guitars create a resonating, metallic sound, while the lead breaks sprinkle in some melodies. Towards the end, a light shines in and we hear an almost free flowing jazzy passage.

"The Plum Curtain" is an exercise in pure musicianship. It is angry but cold and sterile as well, and the shifting rhythms are omnipresent. Take the best of what bands like RUSH and DREAM THEATER do in extended instrumental passages and you will hear the virtuosity displayed here. "Permanent Baby Snowpants" is much less chaotic. In fact it downright breathes with a wonderful spectacle of various harmonies. Ryan Newchok's bass work here really holds the sound together in particular. It has an almost Post-Rock feeling, though definitely on the heavier side of that genre. "Kid Colossal" brings more of that aggressive dissonance. It registers low on the music scale for the most part, kind of clearing and digging the ground beneath like a pissed-off badger. A spacy keyboard passage however moved the song up in the opposite direction.

"The Snake Charmer's Anthem" closes the album, in a fit of rage and fury unleashed. The instruments maintain a trance like quality, fitting for the song title. Eli Litwin's drumwork here is amazing. At times he is methodical while other times ferocious and vehement, but always with impeccable timing. When I think about the album as a whole, it leaves me both happy and sad. I am happy to have heard such an original and brilliantly technical take on instrumental music, but sad that it is the band's one and only release. I have to remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day. Don't however make the mistake of letting this fly under your radar!