By Bill Milkowski | Published January 2026
Guitarist Alex Skolnick, a member of the influential Cali thrash/metal band Testament from 1986 to 1992, began flirting with jazz after moving to New York in 1998. He formed his Alex Skolnick Trio in the early 2000s and has explored the organic fusing of jazz and rock over the course of five albums. This sixth album finds him dabbling in a wide range of dynamics with his flexible sidemen, bassist Nathan Peck and drummer Matt Zebroski, in yet another genre-bending outing.
They open on an introspective note with “Parallel Universe,” which finds Skolnick alternately navigating some intricate fingerstyle chordal territory and soloing with Joe Satriani-esque abandon. He adopts a flamenco mode on “Armondo’s Mood,” a clever mashup of Yes guitarist Steve Howe’s “Mood For A Day” and Chick Corea’s “Armando’s Rhumba.” The lone swinger here, the angular “Infinite Hotel,” catches the trio in metal-bop mode, with Peck and Zebroski each turning in whirlwind solos along with Skolnick, who is deep in a John Scofield bag. The challenging and interactive title track is a throwback to Pat Metheny’s Bright Size Life,
while “Guiding Ethos” is more prog-rock than fusion.
Their jazzy, waltz-time rendition of Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” is a pleasant surprise, as is the straightahead swing-blues number “The Polish Goodbye,” which features a potent upright bass solo by Peck. They close on a gentle note with the acoustic guitar ballad “Asking For A Friend,” a poignant tune that also features some of Skolnick’s most expressive playing of the record.
