Young Hungarian upstarts Inkabb Holnap (Tomorrow Instead) burst onto the progressive scene with a vengeance. Their debut instrumental release is highly impressive. Meshing elements of classic progressive and modern fusion, this self-titled debut disc showcases a foursome of highly talented musicians, who seem to be able to balance chops and harmony on a razor's edge.
Led by guitarist extraordinaire Krisztián PAÁR, who's technical mastery of the six-string dominates throughout, Inkabb Holnap weave a trail of finely crafted musical gems. Standout tracks like "1000 Lei" demonstrate this band's musical prowess; with it's delicate passages contrasted by certain moments of bombast. The bluesy-opening " Hi Honey" has the band exploring more conventional modern fusion, with the sweltering leads from PAÁR counterpunching Imre SÁRI's sober yet tasteful keyboard excursions.The closing segments of this track create some tense musical moments filled with power and passion before fading away.
"Old Man's Mine" has Mr PAÁR leading the charge once again with some very tasty leads, before segueing into more keyboard fills courtesy of Mr SÁRI. Again, the delicate balance of chops and melody is amply demonstrated as the track leads the listener through many mood swings without missing a beat. "Oheighthundred" seems more suited to Mr SÁRI's idiosyncratic keyboard play, yet still has great angular fills from Mr PAÁR; who's passionate solo 3/4 of the way into the track is one of the disc's highlights.
The very jazzy "See Saw" features some superb acoustic piano playing interspersed with some great digital keyboards; and acts as the showpiece for Imre SÁRI. This leads us to the 12:43 epic closer "Strawberry Melon". The rock-solid rhythm section of Péter HOFFER on bass and Krisztián VÉRTI on drums cement a track where all the stops are pulled. Here the band reaches deep into it's bag of influences and retrieves snippets from all the styles visited in earlier numbers in order to fuse them cohesively into one entity. Soulful guitars passages and washes of keyboards coalesce to create a subtle bouquet of musical fragrances; which complement each other without any one dominating the other.
To say that I'm impressed with Inkabb Holnap would be a slight understatement. This is, in my opinion, one of the finest releases from 2003 and about as impressive a debut as any I've heard. Subtlety is the keyword here, as these guys won't hit you over the head with unbridled virtuosity. Compositional skills, and tastefully constructed melodies are the order of the day on this disc. Highly recommended.

Yves Dube