Office of Strategic Influence (album)
Encyclopedia
Office of Strategic Influence is the first album by American progressive rock
band OSI
, released by InsideOut Music
on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios
in Stamford, Connecticut
.
Fates Warning
guitarist Jim Matheos
originally recruited Dream Theater
drummer Mike Portnoy
to work on a progressive metal
album. When keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore
(founder of Chroma Key
and former Dream Theater member) joined the project, the musical direction of the album changed to become more focused on soundscape
s and composition than musicianship. Sean Malone
(of Cynic
and Gordian Knot
) and Steven Wilson
(of Porcupine Tree
) also performed on the album.
The album is named after the Office of Strategic Influence
, an organization set up after the September 11 attacks to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media, among other functions. The Office was shut after The New York Times
published a story on it; many of its operations were transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. The album's lyrics were written by Moore in reaction to the September 11 attacks.
Critical reception of the album was generally positive, praising the band's musicianship. Critics compared the band's sound to Porcupine Tree. Portnoy was ultimately dissatisfied with the experience of making the album. He performed on the second OSI album, Free
, but was replaced by Gavin Harrison
for Blood
, the band's third album.
guitarist Jim Matheos
originally started work on Office of Strategic Influence as a side project while his bandmates took a break before starting work on their next album. Matheos decided to work with Dream Theater
drummer Mike Portnoy
because the two had wanted to work on a project together for some time. They originally planned to form a supergroup
, envisaging the album as "straight prog metal
".
Matheos spent seven months writing material for the album. He then sent Kevin Moore
(who was living in Costa Rica
) some MP3
files of the music he had written and asked him to write some keyboard parts. Moore (known as a founding member of Dream Theater and for his solo career as Chroma Key
) had previously performed on three Fates Warning albums, and Matheos was expecting him to write keyboard parts as he had for the Fates Warning album. Instead, Moore "messed with [Matheos'] tracks and switched things around and put vocals to it and stuff like that." He said that he no longer considered the keyboard, bass and guitar parts separate from each other: "I don't write like that any more as much as I'm composing a whole song." The resulting track would become "Hello, Helicopter!"
Moore emailed his work back to Matheos, who was "pleasantly surprised" to be sent something completely different to what he expected. Matheos wanted to create a heavy
album; before deciding to takes Moore's ideas further, Matheos and Moore wrote what would become "OSI". Moore said that after that, "[Matheos] was pretty much comfortable with whatever I wanted to do." This new song format was very different to what Portnoy and Matheos originally planned: the already-written long tracks were split into multiple short songs, closer to Moore's project Chroma Key than traditional progressive metal. "The Thing That Never Was", a track on the bonus disc, shows the direction Matheos and Portnoy originally planned to take the album in.
Matheos and Portnoy initially considered having a different vocalist perform on each track; this idea was scrapped as they decided the constant change in vocalist would disrupt the flow of the album. Vocalists considered included Steve Walsh
, Steve Hogarth
, Steven Wilson
and John Arch
. Portnoy particularly pushed for Daniel Gildenlöw
to sing on the album. Early on in the album's production, Gildenlöw wrote some vocal melodies and lyrics for two songs and completely wrote another song. Matheos liked Gildenlöw's ideas, but did not want to take the music in the same direction Gildenlöw did. Moore ended up performing most of the vocals on the album. In order to keep the album from becoming too similar to Chroma Key, Matheos and Portnoy decided to have feature a guest vocalist on one track. Steven Wilson
(of Porcupine Tree
) wrote lyrics and performed vocals on the track "ShutDOWN". He was chosen because his music in Porcupine Tree was similar in style to the music on the album. Portnoy also credited Wilson as "a pioneer of his genre".
Bassist Sean Malone
(of Cynic
and Gordian Knot
) was only credited as a guest musician. Portnoy explained that this was because Malone's schedule did not allow him to join Matheos, Moore and Portnoy in the basic tracking sessions.
in Stamford, Connecticut
from June 2 to June 9, 2002. Matheos and Moore mixed the album with Phil Magnotti (who had previously mixed for Fates Warning) in August. Portnoy pushed to get as much of the band together as possible for the main tracking sessions because of his dislike of "side projects done through mail."
Matheos and Moore created the basic song ideas in Pro Tools
. Songs in the progressive metal vein were almost entirely written by Matheos, while Moore had more influence on the more vocal-driven tracks. Portnoy noted that they were ultimately "Jim's songs", but that Moore was very involved with arrangement
s, post-production
, melodies
and lyrics. Portnoy considered himself as "just a drummer": he made minor arrangement suggestions but did not have a part in the actual writing. Malone and Wilson contributed their parts after the songs had been arranged. Matheos saved any unused ideas for the next Fates Warning album.
Sean Malone said that he enjoyed playing on the album, but that "it would have been nice to work out parts with Mike as they were being recorded rather than after the fact". He took a "session
approach" to the album, "trying as much as possible to create parts that fit what Jim et al had created, versus trying to impose anything upon it". He was sent MIDI
bass parts for each song which served as a guideline. For the particularly sparse and texture-heavy tracks, Malone did lots of doubletracking
to create "a natural kind of chorusing" he prefers to any digital effects.
Before the recording of Office of Strategic Influence, the last time Moore and Portnoy worked together was on Dream Theater's Awake
in 1994. Matheos was initially concerned about how Moore and Portnoy would feel about working together for the first time in eight years. Moore noted that he and Portnoy were not on bad terms, but "just weren't in touch." The two both described the experience as initially "awkward". When recording the album Portnoy had to take directions from others; he found this difficult as he was used to taking the creative lead. Moore noted that there was tension when recording the same drum part for a song more than once (in order to give Moore choice later on): "He's used to just playing the stroke once, the way he wants to," he said.
In a 2009 interview, Portnoy blamed his frustration with the project on Moore:
Portnoy performed as a session musician on the second OSI album, Free, but was replaced by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison
for the third album, Blood
.
" than his work in Dream Theater, focusing more on composition and sounds than musicianship. He noted the style "would never work in Dream Theater."
Moore wrote lyrics for the album by "mumbling along to the song and then deciphering what I'm saying." The lyrics feature political themes ("Hello, Helicopter!" is about the US supplying military arsenal
s to other countries to protect its own national interests), although Matheos stated that the album was not political in nature. Moore said that he writes lyrics based on personal experiences, and that much of the album's lyrical content stems from how the September 11 attacks affected him. Moore's brother was a firefighter
who worked at the World Trade Center
after the attacks, "and I was totally apolitical before this, politically naïve and I still am," Moore stated. "I was like, 'Whoa, what the fuck is going on in the world?'"
Office of Strategic Influence features Moore's signature use of spoke word samples. He collected samples first and then tried to match them with the song's tempo
. Moore said that the samples relate directly to the song's lyrics.
Matheos listed his influences as progressive rock
bands such as Genesis
, Jethro Tull
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
and heavy metal
bands such as Black Sabbath
, UFO
and Uriah Heep
. Moore described his influences as minimal techno
, experimental
electronic
musicians and "bands that play live and then chop it up". He specifically named Pole
, The Gordons
and Acid Undertones as influences. Malone cited Mick Karn
as an influence.
was a highly secret organization set up three weeks after the September 11 attacks. Part of its mission was to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media in order to "influence the hearts and minds of the opposition." After The New York Times
ran a story on the Office in February 2002, it was forced to shut, although many of its operations were later transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. "The funny thing about it was the government and administration was saying it's so embarrassing that they had to name it the 'Office of Strategic Influence,' we couldn't just put it in a room in the Pentagon
and name it whatever the room number is," Moore said. "Someone decided to be really creative about it and name it what it really is."
The limited edition bonus CD features three bonus track
s on it. There are two cover songs: a cover of the Pink Floyd
song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
" performed by Moore and Portnoy, chosen because they both "love Pink Floyd", according to Portnoy, and a cover of the Neil Young
song "New Mama" performed by Moore. The third track, entitled "The Thing That Never Was", is a seventeen-minute instrumental performed by Matheos and Portnoy, showing the original direction they intended to take the album in. The CD contains a 19-minute multimedia
section, including two documentary-style videos shot during the album's recording, and a music video for the track "Horseshoes and B-52s" directed by Moore.
Matheos suggested using an altered version of the United States passport
for the album's cover art. The differences are that the arrows are double-headed, the olive branch
is wilted, and the eagle's wings have been clipped. Matheos, Moore and Portnoy decided against sending out promotional copies of the album before its release date in order to prevent an early Internet leak
of it. The album was released in Europe on February 17, 2003.
and Transatlantic
. John Bollenberg of ProgressiveWorld.net praised Matheos, Moore and Portnoy for "[starting] from scratch without copying their past in order to deliver something fresh, new and exciting."
Hash described the album as having "the atmosphere of some of the mid-90s to the latter era Fates Warning
fused with industrial
sounding elements and sound effects that create an ambient
effect." Gordon described the music as similar to Pink Floyd
, King Crimson
and Max Vague. Bollenberg noted "the material on Office Of Strategic Influence gets closer to Moore's very own Chroma Key
mixed with dashes of latterday Porcupine Tree
... there are bits and bobs all over the album that could easily have fit on In Absentia
." Ed Sander of DPRP compared the album's sound to that of Porcupine Tree: "the album features both the dreaminess of some early Porcupine Tree material, as well as the aggressive riff based approach of tracks like 'Up The Downstair', 'Signify' and 'Wedding Nails' and other trademark Tree elements like distorted vocals and catchy bass parts." He noted the music was "more based around catchy dark riffs in the Porcupine Tree vein then on self-indulging fast-finger guitar or keyboard solos." Sander stated that the use of spoken word samples reminded him of Dark Star
.
Gordon described the performances on the album as "crackling with electricity and passion". He lauded Matheos' performance on the album: "In any other subgenre of rock, Matheos would be a guitar hero on the order of Steve Vai
or Eddie Van Halen
, the Fates Warning frontman capable of both classically styled acoustic craftsmanship and chaotic metallic riffing, often in the context of the same song." He praised Malone and Portnoy for "[holding] down the bottom line with rock-solid rhythms." Sander compared some of Malone's bass parts to those in Ozric Tentacles
. While noting that Portnoy "rather sticks to 'plain' drumming," he commended the drummer's performance, praising his use of ethnic percussion to give the album "an original twist".
Gordon praised Moore for "providing an instrumental counterpoint to Matheos' raging guitar. Moore's imaginative style and natural skill coax a myriad of sounds from his instrument to challenge Matheos in the mix." Sander noted Moore's contribution, saying that "at times there's more technology and electronics than in the average house
release." Bollenberg noted that Moore's keyboards added "textures flirting with semi-industrial patches and often being closer to Nine Inch Nails
than 'vintage' melodic prog." Hash praised Moore's vocals, noting they "fit in well with all of the instrumental textures". In contrast, Sander criticized Moore's voice as "dull": "the many added distortion and echo effects cannot always make it more interesting. His voice is okay for one or two tracks... but it's too flat to keep you tied to the speakers for much longer." He cited Moore's vocals as the main weakness of some tracks.
Sander considered "ShutDOWN" as "the absolute highlight of the album", comparing it to the Porcupine Tree track "Russia on Ice". Bollenberg listed his favorite track as "Hello, Helicopter!": "it once again gets so very close to authentic Porcupine Tree with Portnoy introducing some tribal rhythms that go ever so well with the rest of the material. I simply melt once that superb sound of the Fender Rhodes
enters, taking turns with synthesizer tweaks." Gordon described the instrumental parts of the album as "powerful and purposeful: an integral part of each composition rather than an excuse to merely 'jam.'" Sander praised the tracks "The New Math" and "Dirt from a Holy Place", but criticized the more experimental "Horseshoes and B-52s": "to me it sometimes sounds like some random cutting and pasting was done on this track, leaving out a couple of seconds here and there." He criticized the track's video as "nearly unbearable to watch. If some video games are bad for people with epilepsy
, this video is going to instantly kill them."
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band OSI
OSI (band)
OSI is an American progressive rock band, originally formed by Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002. Chroma Key keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore is the only other full-time member of the band...
, released by InsideOut Music
InsideOut Music
Inside Out Music is a German independent record label based in Kleve, in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, and dedicated to the publication of progressive rock, progressive metal and related styles music albums.-History:...
on February 18, 2003. The album was recorded in June 2002 and mixed in August 2002 at the Carriage House Studios
Carriage House Studios
Carriage House Studios is a residential recording studio located in the suburbs of Stamford, Connecticut. Established in 1980, the Carriage House has recorded well-known artists like Diana Ross, Derek Trucks, Johnny Winter, Meatloaf, Rakim, Pantera, Ronnie Dio, Phyllis Hyman, Spyro Gyra, and The...
in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
.
Fates Warning
Fates Warning
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...
guitarist Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
originally recruited Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
drummer Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
to work on a progressive metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
album. When keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
(founder of Chroma Key
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is the name under which ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore records. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of Chroma Key such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson....
and former Dream Theater member) joined the project, the musical direction of the album changed to become more focused on soundscape
Soundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
s and composition than musicianship. Sean Malone
Sean Malone
Sean Malone is an American musician who plays primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman stick. However, Malone also plays piano, keyboards, and guitar. He is most well known as a member of the progressive band Cynic.- Biography :...
(of Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...
and Gordian Knot
Gordian Knot (band)
Gordian Knot is an American 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...
) and Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
(of Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
) also performed on the album.
The album is named after the Office of Strategic Influence
Office of Strategic Influence
The Office of Strategic Influence, or OSI, was a department created by the United States Department of Defense on October 30, 2001, to support the War on Terrorism through psychological operations in targeted countries, including the United States...
, an organization set up after the September 11 attacks to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media, among other functions. The Office was shut after The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
published a story on it; many of its operations were transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. The album's lyrics were written by Moore in reaction to the September 11 attacks.
Critical reception of the album was generally positive, praising the band's musicianship. Critics compared the band's sound to Porcupine Tree. Portnoy was ultimately dissatisfied with the experience of making the album. He performed on the second OSI album, Free
Free (OSI album)
Free is the second album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 21, 2006.Guitarist Jim Matheos and keyboardist and vocalist Kevin Moore decided to work on a follow-up to Office of Strategic Influence after the two found they both had holes in their schedules....
, but was replaced by Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
for Blood
Blood (OSI album)
Blood is the third studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19, 2009 in North America....
, the band's third album.
Background
Fates WarningFates Warning
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...
guitarist Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos
Jim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
originally started work on Office of Strategic Influence as a side project while his bandmates took a break before starting work on their next album. Matheos decided to work with Dream Theater
Dream Theater
Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung, and Mike Portnoy while they attended Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to further concentrate on the band that would...
drummer Mike Portnoy
Mike Portnoy
Michael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
because the two had wanted to work on a project together for some time. They originally planned to form a supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
, envisaging the album as "straight prog metal
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a subgenre of heavy metal originating in the United Kingdom and North America in the late 1980s...
".
Matheos spent seven months writing material for the album. He then sent Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore
For the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
(who was living in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
) some MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
files of the music he had written and asked him to write some keyboard parts. Moore (known as a founding member of Dream Theater and for his solo career as Chroma Key
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is the name under which ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore records. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of Chroma Key such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson....
) had previously performed on three Fates Warning albums, and Matheos was expecting him to write keyboard parts as he had for the Fates Warning album. Instead, Moore "messed with [Matheos'] tracks and switched things around and put vocals to it and stuff like that." He said that he no longer considered the keyboard, bass and guitar parts separate from each other: "I don't write like that any more as much as I'm composing a whole song." The resulting track would become "Hello, Helicopter!"
Moore emailed his work back to Matheos, who was "pleasantly surprised" to be sent something completely different to what he expected. Matheos wanted to create a heavy
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
album; before deciding to takes Moore's ideas further, Matheos and Moore wrote what would become "OSI". Moore said that after that, "[Matheos] was pretty much comfortable with whatever I wanted to do." This new song format was very different to what Portnoy and Matheos originally planned: the already-written long tracks were split into multiple short songs, closer to Moore's project Chroma Key than traditional progressive metal. "The Thing That Never Was", a track on the bonus disc, shows the direction Matheos and Portnoy originally planned to take the album in.
Matheos and Portnoy initially considered having a different vocalist perform on each track; this idea was scrapped as they decided the constant change in vocalist would disrupt the flow of the album. Vocalists considered included Steve Walsh
Steve Walsh (musician)
Steve Walsh is a singer and songwriter best known for his work as a member of the progressive rock band Kansas.-Introduction:The keyboardist/vocalist/songwriter/producer/percussionist is best known for his visionary work with Kansas...
, Steve Hogarth
Steve Hogarth
Steve Hogarth also known as "h", is the lead vocalist and occasional keyboardist/guitarist with the British rock band Marillion. Hogarth was formerly a keyboard player and co-lead vocalist with The Europeans and vocalist with How We Live...
, Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
and John Arch
John Arch
John Arch is an American progressive metal singer of partial Native American descent, most notable for his work with his band Fates Warning.-Fates Warning:...
. Portnoy particularly pushed for Daniel Gildenlöw
Daniel Gildenlöw
Daniel Gildenlöw is a Swedish musician and songwriter. He is best known as a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist for Pain of Salvation, a Swedish progressive metal band. In the band, he is the main songwriter, lead guitar player, and the mastermind behind each album's concept...
to sing on the album. Early on in the album's production, Gildenlöw wrote some vocal melodies and lyrics for two songs and completely wrote another song. Matheos liked Gildenlöw's ideas, but did not want to take the music in the same direction Gildenlöw did. Moore ended up performing most of the vocals on the album. In order to keep the album from becoming too similar to Chroma Key, Matheos and Portnoy decided to have feature a guest vocalist on one track. Steven Wilson
Steven Wilson
Steven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
(of Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
) wrote lyrics and performed vocals on the track "ShutDOWN". He was chosen because his music in Porcupine Tree was similar in style to the music on the album. Portnoy also credited Wilson as "a pioneer of his genre".
Bassist Sean Malone
Sean Malone
Sean Malone is an American musician who plays primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman stick. However, Malone also plays piano, keyboards, and guitar. He is most well known as a member of the progressive band Cynic.- Biography :...
(of Cynic
Cynic (band)
Cynic is an American progressive rock band, incorporating experimental music, alternative, metal and jazz fusion elements, founded in Miami, Florida and currently based in Los Angeles, California. Their first album, Focus, released on September 14, 1993, is widely regarded as a landmark release of...
and Gordian Knot
Gordian Knot (band)
Gordian Knot is an American 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...
) was only credited as a guest musician. Portnoy explained that this was because Malone's schedule did not allow him to join Matheos, Moore and Portnoy in the basic tracking sessions.
Recording
Office of Strategic Influence was recorded at Carriage House StudiosCarriage House Studios
Carriage House Studios is a residential recording studio located in the suburbs of Stamford, Connecticut. Established in 1980, the Carriage House has recorded well-known artists like Diana Ross, Derek Trucks, Johnny Winter, Meatloaf, Rakim, Pantera, Ronnie Dio, Phyllis Hyman, Spyro Gyra, and The...
in Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford, Connecticut
Stamford is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. According to the 2010 census, the population of the city is 122,643, making it the fourth largest city in the state and the eighth largest city in New England...
from June 2 to June 9, 2002. Matheos and Moore mixed the album with Phil Magnotti (who had previously mixed for Fates Warning) in August. Portnoy pushed to get as much of the band together as possible for the main tracking sessions because of his dislike of "side projects done through mail."
Matheos and Moore created the basic song ideas in Pro Tools
Pro Tools
Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation platform for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, developed and manufactured by Avid Technology. It is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film, and television...
. Songs in the progressive metal vein were almost entirely written by Matheos, while Moore had more influence on the more vocal-driven tracks. Portnoy noted that they were ultimately "Jim's songs", but that Moore was very involved with arrangement
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
s, post-production
Post-production
Post-production is part of filmmaking and the video production process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures, television programs, radio programs, advertising, audio recordings, photography, and digital art...
, melodies
Melody
A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...
and lyrics. Portnoy considered himself as "just a drummer": he made minor arrangement suggestions but did not have a part in the actual writing. Malone and Wilson contributed their parts after the songs had been arranged. Matheos saved any unused ideas for the next Fates Warning album.
Sean Malone said that he enjoyed playing on the album, but that "it would have been nice to work out parts with Mike as they were being recorded rather than after the fact". He took a "session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
approach" to the album, "trying as much as possible to create parts that fit what Jim et al had created, versus trying to impose anything upon it". He was sent MIDI
Musical Instrument Digital Interface
MIDI is an industry-standard protocol, first defined in 1982 by Gordon Hall, that enables electronic musical instruments , computers and other electronic equipment to communicate and synchronize with each other...
bass parts for each song which served as a guideline. For the particularly sparse and texture-heavy tracks, Malone did lots of doubletracking
Doubletracking
Double tracking is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or "bigger" sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. It is a form of overdubbing; the distinction comes from the...
to create "a natural kind of chorusing" he prefers to any digital effects.
Before the recording of Office of Strategic Influence, the last time Moore and Portnoy worked together was on Dream Theater's Awake
Awake (Dream Theater album)
Awake is the third studio album by American progressive metal band Dream Theater, released on October 4, 1994 by East West Records. It was the last Dream Theater album to feature keyboardist Kevin Moore, who announced his decision to leave the band during the recording of the album.Much of the...
in 1994. Matheos was initially concerned about how Moore and Portnoy would feel about working together for the first time in eight years. Moore noted that he and Portnoy were not on bad terms, but "just weren't in touch." The two both described the experience as initially "awkward". When recording the album Portnoy had to take directions from others; he found this difficult as he was used to taking the creative lead. Moore noted that there was tension when recording the same drum part for a song more than once (in order to give Moore choice later on): "He's used to just playing the stroke once, the way he wants to," he said.
In a 2009 interview, Portnoy blamed his frustration with the project on Moore:
Portnoy performed as a session musician on the second OSI album, Free, but was replaced by Porcupine Tree drummer Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison
Gavin Harrison is a British drummer and percussionist. He is best known for playing with the British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree which he joined in 2002. As of 2008, he also plays with the band King Crimson....
for the third album, Blood
Blood (OSI album)
Blood is the third studio album by American progressive rock band OSI, released by InsideOut Music on April 27, 2009 in Europe and May 19, 2009 in North America....
.
Music
Moore described the music on Office of Strategic Influence as "a new approach to progressive rock", stating that he could use his musical roots in progressive music but "was far enough away from it to play with it." He said that "progressive rock has been around for so long and we have to stop taking it so seriously and really have fun with it." Portnoy described the album as "more soundscapishSoundscape
A soundscape is a sound or combination of sounds that forms or arises from an immersive environment. The study of soundscape is the subject of acoustic ecology...
" than his work in Dream Theater, focusing more on composition and sounds than musicianship. He noted the style "would never work in Dream Theater."
Moore wrote lyrics for the album by "mumbling along to the song and then deciphering what I'm saying." The lyrics feature political themes ("Hello, Helicopter!" is about the US supplying military arsenal
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, issued to authorized users, or any combination of those...
s to other countries to protect its own national interests), although Matheos stated that the album was not political in nature. Moore said that he writes lyrics based on personal experiences, and that much of the album's lyrical content stems from how the September 11 attacks affected him. Moore's brother was a firefighter
Firefighter
Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
who worked at the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
after the attacks, "and I was totally apolitical before this, politically naïve and I still am," Moore stated. "I was like, 'Whoa, what the fuck is going on in the world?'"
Office of Strategic Influence features Moore's signature use of spoke word samples. He collected samples first and then tried to match them with the song's tempo
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...
. Moore said that the samples relate directly to the song's lyrics.
Matheos listed his influences as progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
bands such as Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
, Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
and Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
and heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
bands such as Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
, UFO
UFO (band)
UFO are an English heavy metal and hard rock band, who were formed in 1969. UFO became a transitional group between early hard rock and heavy metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal...
and Uriah Heep
Uriah Heep (band)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969 and regarded as a seminal classic hard rock act of the 1970s. Uriah Heep's progressive/art rock/heavy metal fusion's distinctive features have always been massive keyboards sound, strong vocal harmonies and David Byron's operatic vocals...
. Moore described his influences as minimal techno
Minimal techno
Minimal techno is a minimalist sub-genre of techno. It is characterized by a stripped-down aesthetic that exploits the use of repetition, and understated development. This style of dance music production generally adheres to the motto less is more; a principle that has been previously utilized, to...
, experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
musicians and "bands that play live and then chop it up". He specifically named Pole
Pole (musician)
Pole is the artistic name of Stefan Betke, a German electronic music artist commonly associated with the glitch genre as well as dubtronica.-History:Pole took his name from a Waldorf 4-Pole filter which he accidentally dropped and broke in 1996...
, The Gordons
The Gordons (duo)
The Gordons are a folk music duo consisting of Gary Gordon and Roberta Gordon, who are husband and wife. They have been performing professionally since 1973....
and Acid Undertones as influences. Malone cited Mick Karn
Mick Karn
Andonis Michaelides , better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982....
as an influence.
Release and promotion
Moore chose the album's name from a list of band, album and song names he kept. The Office of Strategic InfluenceOffice of Strategic Influence
The Office of Strategic Influence, or OSI, was a department created by the United States Department of Defense on October 30, 2001, to support the War on Terrorism through psychological operations in targeted countries, including the United States...
was a highly secret organization set up three weeks after the September 11 attacks. Part of its mission was to spread misinformation and plant false news items in the media in order to "influence the hearts and minds of the opposition." After The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
ran a story on the Office in February 2002, it was forced to shut, although many of its operations were later transferred to the Information Operations Task Force. "The funny thing about it was the government and administration was saying it's so embarrassing that they had to name it the 'Office of Strategic Influence,' we couldn't just put it in a room in the Pentagon
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
and name it whatever the room number is," Moore said. "Someone decided to be really creative about it and name it what it really is."
The limited edition bonus CD features three bonus track
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
s on it. There are two cover songs: a cover of the Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
song "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun
"Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" is a song by British rock band Pink Floyd and is featured on their second album A Saucerful of Secrets . It was written by Roger Waters and features a drum part by Nick Mason played with timpani mallets...
" performed by Moore and Portnoy, chosen because they both "love Pink Floyd", according to Portnoy, and a cover of the Neil Young
Neil Young
Neil Percival Young, OC, OM is a Canadian singer-songwriter who is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of his generation...
song "New Mama" performed by Moore. The third track, entitled "The Thing That Never Was", is a seventeen-minute instrumental performed by Matheos and Portnoy, showing the original direction they intended to take the album in. The CD contains a 19-minute multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
section, including two documentary-style videos shot during the album's recording, and a music video for the track "Horseshoes and B-52s" directed by Moore.
Matheos suggested using an altered version of the United States passport
United States passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides issuing passports , also limited use passport cards are issued by the same organization subject to the same...
for the album's cover art. The differences are that the arrows are double-headed, the olive branch
Olive branch
The olive branch in Western culture, derived from the customs of Ancient Greece, symbolizes peace or victory and was worn by brides.-Ancient Greece and Rome:...
is wilted, and the eagle's wings have been clipped. Matheos, Moore and Portnoy decided against sending out promotional copies of the album before its release date in order to prevent an early Internet leak
Internet leak
An Internet leak occurs when a party's confidential information is released to the public on the Internet. Various types of information and data can be, and have been, "leaked" to the Internet, the most common being personal information, computer software and source code, and artistic works such...
of it. The album was released in Europe on February 17, 2003.
Reception
Office of Strategic Influence was critically well-received. Keith Gordon of Allmusic praised the album as "offering both power and pomp." Tommy Hash of Prog4you.com described the music as "catchy, complete with great melodies and musicianship that does not overdo it." He described the album as "almost in complete contrast to the parent bands' other related side projects," such as Liquid Tension ExperimentLiquid Tension Experiment
Liquid Tension Experiment is an instrumental progressive rock/metal supergroup, founded by Dream Theater's former drummer Mike Portnoy in 1997. The band has released two albums through Magna Carta Records...
and Transatlantic
Transatlantic (band)
Transatlantic is a progressive rock supergroup consisting of Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings, Pete Trewavas of Marillion, Mike Portnoy formerly of Dream Theater and Neal Morse formerly of Spock's Beard. They formed in 1999 as a side project to their full time bands until 2002...
. John Bollenberg of ProgressiveWorld.net praised Matheos, Moore and Portnoy for "[starting] from scratch without copying their past in order to deliver something fresh, new and exciting."
Hash described the album as having "the atmosphere of some of the mid-90s to the latter era Fates Warning
Fates Warning
Fates Warning is an American progressive metal band, formed in 1982 by vocalist John Arch, guitarists Jim Matheos and Victor Arduini, bassist Joe DiBiase, and drummer Steve Zimmerman in Hartford, Connecticut. Fates Warning has experienced numerous line-up changes...
fused with industrial
Industrial music
Industrial music is a style of experimental music that draws on transgressive and provocative themes. The term was coined in the mid-1970s with the founding of Industrial Records by the band Throbbing Gristle, and the creation of the slogan "industrial music for industrial people". In general, the...
sounding elements and sound effects that create an ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
effect." Gordon described the music as similar to Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, King Crimson
King Crimson
King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...
and Max Vague. Bollenberg noted "the material on Office Of Strategic Influence gets closer to Moore's very own Chroma Key
Chroma Key
Chroma Key is the name under which ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore records. Although primarily a solo project, several other musicians have recorded as part of Chroma Key such as bassist Joey Vera, drummer Mark Zonder, and guitarist Jason Anderson....
mixed with dashes of latterday Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Their music is difficult to categorise, being associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, yet having been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven...
... there are bits and bobs all over the album that could easily have fit on In Absentia
In Absentia
In Absentia is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. It was their first release on a major record label, Lava Records. It is Metal Storm's number 3 of the Top 20 albums of 2002 and number 49 on the Top 100 albums of all time...
." Ed Sander of DPRP compared the album's sound to that of Porcupine Tree: "the album features both the dreaminess of some early Porcupine Tree material, as well as the aggressive riff based approach of tracks like 'Up The Downstair', 'Signify' and 'Wedding Nails' and other trademark Tree elements like distorted vocals and catchy bass parts." He noted the music was "more based around catchy dark riffs in the Porcupine Tree vein then on self-indulging fast-finger guitar or keyboard solos." Sander stated that the use of spoken word samples reminded him of Dark Star
Dark Star (band)
Dark Star were an English rock band from London, whose music mixed dark psychedelica, with a dub undertow and noisy effects-laden guitar.-History:...
.
Gordon described the performances on the album as "crackling with electricity and passion". He lauded Matheos' performance on the album: "In any other subgenre of rock, Matheos would be a guitar hero on the order of Steve Vai
Steve Vai
Steven Siro "Steve" Vai is a three time Grammy Award-winning American guitarist, songwriter and producer who has sold over 15 million albums. Steve Vai is widely known as a flamboyant guitar virtuoso....
or Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen
Edward Lodewijk "Eddie" Van Halen is a Dutch-American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, best known as the lead guitarist and co-founder of the hard rock band Van Halen, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
, the Fates Warning frontman capable of both classically styled acoustic craftsmanship and chaotic metallic riffing, often in the context of the same song." He praised Malone and Portnoy for "[holding] down the bottom line with rock-solid rhythms." Sander compared some of Malone's bass parts to those in Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles
Ozric Tentacles are an instrumental rock band from Somerset, England, whose music can loosely be described as psychedelic or space rock. Formed in 1983, the band has released 28 albums as of 2011, and become a cottage industry selling over a million albums worldwide despite never having major...
. While noting that Portnoy "rather sticks to 'plain' drumming," he commended the drummer's performance, praising his use of ethnic percussion to give the album "an original twist".
Gordon praised Moore for "providing an instrumental counterpoint to Matheos' raging guitar. Moore's imaginative style and natural skill coax a myriad of sounds from his instrument to challenge Matheos in the mix." Sander noted Moore's contribution, saying that "at times there's more technology and electronics than in the average house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
release." Bollenberg noted that Moore's keyboards added "textures flirting with semi-industrial patches and often being closer to Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
than 'vintage' melodic prog." Hash praised Moore's vocals, noting they "fit in well with all of the instrumental textures". In contrast, Sander criticized Moore's voice as "dull": "the many added distortion and echo effects cannot always make it more interesting. His voice is okay for one or two tracks... but it's too flat to keep you tied to the speakers for much longer." He cited Moore's vocals as the main weakness of some tracks.
Sander considered "ShutDOWN" as "the absolute highlight of the album", comparing it to the Porcupine Tree track "Russia on Ice". Bollenberg listed his favorite track as "Hello, Helicopter!": "it once again gets so very close to authentic Porcupine Tree with Portnoy introducing some tribal rhythms that go ever so well with the rest of the material. I simply melt once that superb sound of the Fender Rhodes
Rhodes piano
The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
enters, taking turns with synthesizer tweaks." Gordon described the instrumental parts of the album as "powerful and purposeful: an integral part of each composition rather than an excuse to merely 'jam.'" Sander praised the tracks "The New Math" and "Dirt from a Holy Place", but criticized the more experimental "Horseshoes and B-52s": "to me it sometimes sounds like some random cutting and pasting was done on this track, leaving out a couple of seconds here and there." He criticized the track's video as "nearly unbearable to watch. If some video games are bad for people with epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
, this video is going to instantly kill them."
Track listing
Limited edition bonus CD
Personnel
- Jim MatheosJim MatheosJim Matheos , is the American guitarist and primary songwriter for the progressive metal band Fates Warning. As of bassist Joe DiBiase's departure in 1996, he is the band's only permanent member...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, programming, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, engineering - Kevin MooreKevin MooreFor the blues singer, see Keb' Mo'.Kevin Moore is a keyboardist, vocalist and composer and founder of the Chroma Key music project. He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I. and has composed film soundtracks...
– vocals, keyboards, programming, producer - Sean MaloneSean MaloneSean Malone is an American musician who plays primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman stick. However, Malone also plays piano, keyboards, and guitar. He is most well known as a member of the progressive band Cynic.- Biography :...
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, Chapman stickChapman StickThe Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and has been used on music recordings to play bass lines, melody lines, chords or textures... - Mike PortnoyMike PortnoyMichael Stephen "Mike" Portnoy is an American drummer primarily known as the former drummer, backing vocalist, and a co-founder of the progressive metal band Dream Theater, as well as the temporary drummer for the hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold. Known for his drumming prowess and technical...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Steven WilsonSteven WilsonSteven John Wilson is an English musician, best known as the founder, lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of progressive rock band Porcupine Tree...
– vocals on "ShutDOWN"
- Produced by Jim Matheos and Kevin Moore
- Mixed by Phil Magnotti
- Engineered by Phil Magnotti, Steven Wilson, Sean Malone and Jim Matheos
Chart positions
| Chart (2003) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Billboard Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... Independent Albums |
31 |
| French charts France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... |
149 |
External links
- Photos of Matheos, Portnoy and Moore recording the album