This is an ancient album review I wrote in 2007: Wim Roelants - Burn
Wim is an established sessionman / studio guitar player in Belgium. Apart from being a performer, endorser, guitar instructor and clinician for many years, Wim is also a composer and songwriter, and "Burn" is his first solo CD.
The album is composed of 10 original tracks, the genre is instrumental guitar rock, with some blues/fusion accents and also a little bit of funkiness, which never hurts, if you ask me.
The first track, with its meditative tones, is quite an unusual way to start such a record, but the phrasing is interesting, as the jazzy chord progression drives its way to the end about 6 minutes later, with the help of a tight rythm section. I think it's a good resume of Wim's musical taste, but I found it a little unfocused, to say the least.
The title track, one of the album's best moments, has a catchy melody, and is a nice showcase of Wim's guitaristic prowess. the guitar works are well executed and overall solid. Wim sure is a talented guitar player and he's capable of many different styles. His soloing is pretty conventional though, it shows good feeling but it gets somewhat repetitive after some listening.
The work of the other musicians involved in this project is truly first class, as it sounds inspired, like if the four have been playing together for a long time.
Shades, the 3rd track, with its slower pace and bluesy roots, is also quite enjoyable. I found that it benefits quite a lot by the inclusion of background acoustic guitars and the occasional funky rythm guitar.
The Quickening 2 intro brought to memory some of Steve Morse works with his band, the four musicians play tightly and there's room for some harmonic exploration as well as some true shredding moments.
That said, I'm pleased to say that Wim is the kind of guitarist which is more after good melodies rather than the showcase of mad guitar skills. I personally like his kind of approach, cause the world's full of soulless notes-per-second machines and awful songs, and this is not the case with Wim.
All in all, the impression I received after repeated listenings of Burn is of a quite traditional guitar record. The production is about average, the kind of stuff you would expect from other guitar "solo" albums, and I guess this doesn't help much the "novelty factor". Maybe a less conventional approach could have made this record more enjoyable.
Bronze is another delicate, acoustic rock/fusion ballad, and like "in your eyes" it doesn't hurt, but it doesn't either add much to the overall character of the record.
The Kickstart 2 oriental feeling is welcomed as a good change to the record's uniformity of style. The guitar's heavier sound leave a distinct mark but I found the bass the most convincing trait of this track. The soloing is, again, good but didn't strike me as particuarly original or new.
Karnak Karma, on the other hand, is maybe the most original of all the included tracks, with its ethnic character and the 2/4 drumming, I would say it's refreshing and therefore, a good variation of Wim's musical tone.
To resume this album in a sentence, I would say "Burn" is a solid instrumental record with the predominance of softer, more melodic tracks. Even without truly excelling at anything in particular it's surely worth listening, especially if you're into melodic guitar works.
Wim cites Satriani, Steve Vai and John Petrucci as his main influences, but I found his style also very close to that of guitarist Andy Timmons.
I you like this records I suggest that you check out also:
"Tricot no pais das maravilhas" by Goncalo Pereira Any record by Andy Timmons (Andy Timmons Band)
You can check out Wim and his works here