Sal Serio Reviews "Shadow Fades Away" Colorado guitarist John Herdt and Canadian drummer Wally Z smoke the sophomore slump, really raising the bar a couple notches on their new Rampant Squid release "Shadow Fades Away". The feel of summer breezes, cruisin' with the top down. Flying at hyper speeds. An old west gold rush blush. These were all thoughts that popped up listening to this mother of invention… spawning imagination. Inspiring transportation. This is an invigorating journey, accompanied by a swaggering soundtrack of genre jumping cerebral progressive hard rock. The trip will take you to a place called "Licorice", with it's gun slinging riffs… Herdt's guitars blazing like a frontier showdown in an old California settlement like a scene right from the disc's cover. Excuse the mess, but on track seven's voyage you might breathe in a little "Rock Dust". Wally singing some inspired words penned by his wife Lee here, with lyrics that don't distract from the complexities of the instrumentation. Instead, color the songs with intrigue. Phrases like "Jump into the fog of the night" and "Sparks of technicolor shower down on me" make visions bloom onto the dense aural landscape. I deem this CD experience the best "staycation" of the Summer!