{"id":36244,"date":"2014-01-21T08:58:33","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T13:58:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=36244"},"modified":"2014-01-21T08:58:33","modified_gmt":"2014-01-21T13:58:33","slug":"k3-key-to-paradise-ep-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/k3-key-to-paradise-ep-review\/","title":{"rendered":"K3 | Key to Paradise EP<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"K3Budgie, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, ZZ Top, Rush, Mot\u00f6rhead all led the way to Satriani\u2019s famous G3 project. A \u201cpower trio\u201d formula always has been extensively used by bands that go for instrumental performance and musicianship rather than the aspect of radio-friendliness. One such power trio is the Hungarian project centered around mastermind and guitarist Janos Kallai \u2013 K3. Years after the Hungarians introduced listeners to their instrumental, guitar-oriented metal sound with albums Under a Spell<\/em> and Garden of Death<\/em>, Kallai is back and sounds better than ever. The newly released Key to Paradise<\/em> EP also is the occasion to introduce the K3\u2019s new lineup, which comprises musicians well known in the hard rock\/heavy metal world: Bassist Stuart Hamm, known from playing with Joe Satriani; and drummer Atma Anur (Richie Kotzen, Tony MacAlpine, Cacophony and more). <\/p>\n

Key to Paradise<\/em> is an instrumental EP, so the task of drawing a listener\u2019s attention is twice as difficult \u2013 there must be something to compensate for the lack of vocals. As a remedy for this, K3 delivers solid musicianship (as a matter of fact, the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of the trio\u2019s rhythm section serves as a guarantee for such a status quo). Four songs off the new EP are clear proof of the fact – \u201cKey To Paradise,\u201d for example, features a particularly interesting riff that develops into a fierce musical dialogue between a guitar and rhythm section, just until a somewhat grim mood of the next track \u201cSnake Nest.\u201d \u201cLost Road\u201d is outstanding because of its Satriani-inspired virtuosity (and interesting, although misleading, acoustic guitar is in the opening), and the final track, \u201cJudas\u201d is just pure heavy metal gallopade. <\/p>\n

A solid album though it is, Key to Paradise<\/em> definitely lacks variety. Only slight differences exist among the four songs included on the EP, so the overall impression might be that they get a little repetitive. Still, an EP is just a teaser of what the band has in store for future projects and should dispel doubts. Hopefully, a full-length album is in the works. Key to Paradise<\/em> is everything a metal fan could wish to hear through their speakers \u2013 a journey to the world of thumping bass lines and drums and crushing guitar riffs and solos. Recommended for metal fans. <\/p>\n

Genre: Instrumental Rock<\/p>\n

Line-up:
\nStuart Hamm – bass
\nAtma Anur – drums
\nJanos Kallai – guitars<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tKey to Paradise (4:19)
\n2.\tSnake Nest (4:10)
\n3.\tLost Road (4:03)
\n4.\tJudas (4:01)<\/p>\n

Label: K3 Production<\/p>\n

Online: http:\/\/k3music.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 7.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — Budgie, Cream, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, ZZ Top, Rush, Mot\u00f6rhead all led the way to Satriani\u2019s famous G3 project. A \u201cpower trio\u201d formula always has been extensively used by […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":36245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[8671,8289,2385,8669,8673,8672,8668,8670],"class_list":{"0":"post-36244","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-atma-anur","9":"tag-ep-review","10":"tag-instrumental","11":"tag-janos-kallai","12":"tag-k3","13":"tag-k3-production","14":"tag-key-to-paradise","15":"tag-stuart-hamm"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}