OSI — Office Of Strategic Influence

When I first heard about this project I was sceptical: especially the name of Mike Portnoy from Dream Theater worried me, despite my fondness for Jim Matheos' and Kevin Moore's respective works in Fates Warning and Chroma Key. Portnoy seems to be on about every Magna Carta 'superband' release full of symphonic progrock virtuosity which made me fear the same on this release...

Luckily, Jim and Kevin wouldn't have that, as they had proven on recent releases that they are more interested in songwriting and atmospheres than in technical pyrotechnics even though they sure have done that in the past. Mike has been on a leash so to speak, so we get to see a side of him we haven't seen before, more tasteful and sometimes processed with effects. I said no technical pyrotechnics, but this doesn't mean 3-chord songs either: the music obviously has progressive rock and metal ingredients but tasteful and equal parts of ambience and poppy songstructures. All three musicians are more than proficient on their instruments and special guest Sean Malone (bass and stick; ex-Cynic, Gordian Knot) is a great musician too.

The project started as the wish of working together by Mike Portnoy and Jim Matheos came about 2 years ago. It took a while but eventually the wish materialized. Kevin Moore had been in Dream Theater and contributed to various Fates Warning records so that was an obvious choice. Pain Of Salvation singer Daniel Gildenlöw was initially asked for the vocals but that didn't work out, so it was decided that Moore would also do vocals. The bandname stands for an idea that the Pentagon had after 9-11 which was to spread false information in countries of the 'Axis Of Evil' to give the US ground to attack these countries. The plan fell through but supplied Matheos/Portnoy/Moore with a bandname.

Most songs are about 4 minutes long with the exception of the 10 minute song SHUTdown where Steve Wilson from Porcupine Tree jumps in for the vocals. The whole album flows as one continuous trip though. Moore's vocals are dreamy and his synthesizer- and sequencerparts are very much in the vein of his own (one-man) band Chroma Key. Acoustic guitars and occasional heavy outbursts from Matheos make Fates Warning spring to mind. Portnoy's 'dayjob' Dream Theater is virtually absent in the sound of OSI. A lot of parts have been tweaked with ProTools and moods change often from silent ambience to explosions of heavy riffs. Similar to Chroma Key a lot of samples are used. Before you know it, almost 50 minutes have passed.

If that's not enough there is a limited edition which holds a bonus disc with a Pink Floyd- and a Neil Young-cover and a 17 minute demotrack. On top of that a videoclip is included on disc one and the second disc has studiofootage on it.

When I listened to this CD I was happy that my prejudices against it, based on Portnoys presence, were crushed pretty soon and thoroughly. This is moody and tasteful progressive rock (in the original sense) with a beautiful atmosphere and not the anticipated 'noodlefest' and it definitely deserves a broader audience than just musicians.