Breaking The Silence

HOLDING PATTERN was formed in 1981 and quickly gained notoriety as being one of the most important progressive rock bands hailing from the U.S. Through the release of their debut album, videos, radio air play and performances with Steve Morse, Kansas, Rick Wakeman and Steve Howe to name a few. HOLDING PATTERN quickly built a loyal following of prog rock fans from around the globe. Guitarist/composer Tony Spada's split with HP in 1992 prompted him to start a new band to support the release of his critically acclaimed solo album BALANCE OF POWER and a chance to return to a more progressive/guitaristic style of music. BALANCE OF POWER was enjoyed not only by fans of HP but helped create a solo career to a growing audience in just about every country. Spada's next solo album THE HUMAN ELEMENT was released January 2005, and created a buzz in the prog community based on reviews, requests for advance orders and strong coverage in various media. Some writers and fans calling it the guitar album of the year The record featured a new streamlined lineup, comprised of Tony Spada guitars/synth guitar, ace session man Rob Gottfried on drums, and the multi-talented Tony Castellano on bass/keyboards. Although basically a power trio, THE HUMAN ELEMENT stretched out in many directions, from classical guitar music, to heavy prog fusion,Celtic and old style symphonic prog with heavy emphasis on the guitar (also available at CD Baby) Due to an elevated interest in his back catalog of releases and a recent reunion tour in Japan, an album seemed to be the obvious next step. REVIEWS HOLDING PATTERN'S BREAKING THE SILENCE is the new reunion album featuring original band members Tony Spada-guitars Tony Castellano-bass,keyboards,Mark Tannenbaum-keyboards,Rob Gottfried and Robert Hutchinson- drums, cranking out virtuosic performances throughout just about every facet of progressive rock's finest qualities. The album also features a live bonus track from their performance at Tokyo's Poseidon Festival 2005 and cover art by GENESIS album artist Paul Whitehead. HOLDING PATTERN 'Breaking The Silence Review by Erik Neuteboom SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Symphonic Prog The focus is on prime mover and musical brainchild Tony Spada, his guitarwork, from howling to propulsive riffs and lots of fiery guitar solos, loaded with biting and blistering runs like in the title track (also featuring a sparkling synthesizer solo with lush Mellotron), Fishbulb, Once As One, Out The Other and Blaster (catchy rhythm and great interplay). A very good composition is the long and alternating Back To The Tunnels delivering a beautiful part with twanging acoustic guitar and piano and a flashy synthesizer solo, accompanied by propulsvie guitar riffs and powerful drums. But my highlight is the final song Honor Before Glory (live Tokyo 2005): a dreamy first part with Mellotron and sensitive electric guitar play, then a comepelling atmosphere with a great build-up guitar solo with many howling runs, goose bumps! To me this sounds as a very good reunion CD, I am sure it will please many progheads who like more dynamic and bombastic progrock with lots of strong guitarwork. Progwalhalla-Netherlands Holding Pattern - Breaking The Silence This is a refreshing instrumental amalgam of sounds that at times evokes Happy The Man, The Dregs, and Genesis - often within the same song! 2007 was not a banner year for progressive rock. In the last days of the year it's nice to see these guys reunite and give the genre a kick in the butt. For nostaglia's sake the band enlisted noted artist Paul Whitehead to create the cover art. Highly recommended.- Ken Golden-The Laser's Edge Superb 2007 release by Connecticut's Holding Pattern. Musically this is even superior to their excellent debut nearly a quarter century earlier! 'Breaking the Silence' is a very symphonic and satisfying instrumental prog album that really delivers the goods. The guitar work of Tony Spada is the highlight but the entire band is quite amazing. But mostly this is a mature and highly original work by seasoned musicians at t