Biography
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Years Active
1998 – present (26 years)
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Members
- Adam Levy
- Bill Bruford
- Paul Masvidal
- Ron Jarzombek
- Sean Malone
Gordian Knot is a progressive rock/metal band directed by bass guitarist Sean Malone.
At times its shifting lineup has included Steve Hackett of Genesis, Bill Bruford of King Crimson and Yes, Ron Jarzombek from Watchtower and Spastic Ink as well as Jim Matheos of Fates Warning, several of Malone's former bandmates from Cynic and John Myung from Dream Theater.
The music of Gordian Knot is a highly professional mélange of progressive rock and metal, fusion - instrumental music à la Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft (replacing the clean guitar sound with distorted sounds) and his solo-work (compare Gordian Knot's song "Grace" with Fripp's "Evening Star").
Gordian Knot manage to incorporate several overlapping layers of complex melodies and harmonies into a unified whole without sounding too complex or "forced" in any way. The music of Gordian Knot also relies heavily on beautiful, diatonic guitar-melodies (although sometimes encompassing later-resolved dissonances to add a Jazz-Fusion-like flavor). The interaction between the various instruments (all played by very accomplished instrumentalists) is flawless, allowing for communication of various melody-lines, harmonies and rhythms between guitar(s), bass and - concerning rhythms - even drums.
Gordian Knot cannot be categorized without disregarding certain aspects of their music. For example the piece "Komm süsser Tod, komm sel'ge" is a transcription of a piece of the same name by Johann Sebastian Bach, while some of their pieces, most notably "Grace", have a distinct classical, even "baroque" Bach-like flavor, being made up of an interplay between various diatonic, peaceful-sounding melody-lines from the bass and guitar(s) - without drifting off into the often corny, showy neo-classical style. Other songs, such as "Muttersprache" (German for 'mother-tongue') or "Code/Anticode" work with on-beat/off-beat, almost counterpoint-like interplay between two guitars and/or the rhythm-and-melody section, incorporating jazz chords and dissonant intervals to create tension and form the basis for a mixture of jazz-fusion and progressive rock/metal. Thus, the music of Gordian Knot is highly diverse and musically complex without ever sounding forced or drifting off into becoming a mere platform for the instrumentalists to show off their talent.
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