Whenever anything remotely Cthulhu related is mentioned, I'm usually the first one to dive in with a round of "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn".  So imagine my joy when I'm handed a band by the name of SQUIDHEAD and I see that the only pictures I can find are of someone wearing what looks like a bondage mask for those with a bit of a fetish for Cephalopoda.

My awe and adulation was cut short when I realised that this is a one man instrumental band however.  This is not something that generally works well in practice and most that try it seem to miss the point of instrumental music (which is usually to let the instruments do the talking).  Sadly this is one of these occasions and this début release from Pierre Minet is heavily lacking in any kind of atmosphere.  Instrumental Metal can always go the other way of course, just look at bands like ANIMALS AS LEADERS or SLEEP TERROR.  The only issue is that SQUIDHEAD doesn't quite hit this mark either. There are plenty of Tech-Metal themes within the music and the musicianship is undeniably fantastic but it is missing that spark that creates a truly unique and engaging solo project.

I suppose one of the strong points of the album is that it ticks all the boxes for some excellent Metal, simply without the vocals.  I can't help but feel that this album would serve as a brilliant advert for a musician looking for a band, another way of saying "Hey, check out how awesome I am on guitar!  Anyone want to come and play with me?".  That's really all this needs to sound complete, some other musicians and some big hairy bastard growling the aforementioned Cthulhu prayer.