Chris Poland
"Chasing the Sun"
Grooveyard Records

There's the kind of musician that after being MIA for several years suddenly re-surfaces and starts to do exactly what he was once known for. I often wonder what this breed of musicians has done in the mean time. Where the incredible tight Phil Rudd was hanging, when this bald fool played drums with AC/DC and what Craig Goldy was up to in the days that Ronnie James Dio needed him so bad. Guitar player Chris Poland is the same mysterious kind of guy. He once helped to develop the Megadeth sound and afterwards proved with the guitar album Return To Metalopolis and progressive outfit Damn The Machine that he had a lot more to offer. Still, he kind of 'disappeared' without a sign or noise around 1995. And now, almost exactly ten years after his first solo effort, Poland suddenly presents another one. He answers most of my questions on the CD-booklet. The 13 songs were recorded between 1994 and 1999, a period during which Chris on occasions was forced to live on the couch of some friends. This “Where-am-I-living-now?”-phase certainly didn't negatively affect his inspiration and playing. Chasing The Sun is filled with ingenious, adventurous guitar music, which is clearly partially rooted in metal, but in most of the tracks also reveals Poland's typical fusion-undertone. Although this jazzy feel is even further emphasized by the crispy, clear bass guitar and the 'freestyle' drumming (yes, that's right… brother Mark) in songs like “Straight Jacket” and “Cosmo's Thumb”, and oldie, “Alexandria,” in it's ‘99-incarnation even touches Spock's Beard, Chasing The Sun is primarily an impressive album full of original, dream-away, instrumental guitar rock. Because of the relative big time gap between individual recordings, the album sounds very diverse as well. A must for everyone that enjoys guitar music with an own will, certainly not a bad investment for open-minded Megadeth fans either.

---Rob Woning
Translation from Aardschok Magazine
Holland