photo courtesy of A.R.M.

Album Review of Jeff Kollman: East of Heaven (Marmaduke Records)

A few days ago, I reviewed an instrumental album from Lanterna. That was one of the two instrumental releases that have been gracing the top of my review-queue playlist during much of the last couple of years. This, Jeff Kollman‘s East of Heaven, is the other.

image courtesy of A.R.M.

East of Heaven is a classic rock-styled album, driven by Kollman’s axework. I don’t have many all-instrumental albums in my collection, but this one will sit proudly alongside my Steve Vai and Marc Bonilla discs. It’s one of those guitar-driven instrumental collections that can reach a broader market, with structured, catchy songs that’ll quickly become like old friends even for those of us who might typically like to sing along.

You may know Kollman from his hard-rockin’ stint with Edwin Dare in the ’90s or perhaps more recently from his prog-metal fusion group Cosmosquad. This disc falls clearly within the purview of someone with Kollman’s resume, showing off what he can do on a “solo” rock album. Of course, though Kollman’s guitarwork drives the record, his top-shelf bandmates make this truly a bandwide effort. Jeff is joined by Shane Gaalaas and Jono Brown on drums, Paul Shihadeh on bass, and Guy Allison on keyboards.

photo courtesy of A.R.M.

East of Heaven opens with “Loss,” a 2-minute table-setting piece, sporting guitarwork with just a hint of distortion on what seems like a slowly-building music bed. It’s the sort of 2-minute album intro you might expect to kick off a classic rock album, particularly in the days when AOR ruled the world, and not necessarily just on concept-driven discs.

In the heart of the album, “Superstring Theory” is probably my favorite of the harder-rocking numbers, thanks to its driving rhythm. Other favorites include the more often – though not always – softer “Ghostly” and “East of Heaven” and the mellow guitar-picker “So Long Ago.” The songs on East of Heaven range from energetic to introspective to moody, though perhaps most often introspective, covering a broad spectrum of sounds and emotions.

Kollman closes the disc aptly with “See You On the Other Side,” a meandering piece with a recurring theme, traveling a musical journey that draws sonically upon many of the prior songs in the collection, combined in such a way that it seems to be saying “So long for now. We’ll meet again on the next album.”

If you’re a classic guitar rock fan, a guitar instrumental fan, or both, East of Heaven will be a welcome addition to your collection.

photo courtesy of A.R.M.

More About Jeff Kollman

Since this album’s, there’s a newer single, “Green For Miles” (featuring Guy Allison), available from Jeff at his Marmaduke Records bandcamp page.

You can follow Jeff on Instagram for new announcements, including upcoming shows. Also, though there are no dates listed, you can watch the “Events” tab of Jeff’s Facebook page and the “Events” tab of Cosmosquad’s Facebook page for upcoming listings.