It's music without a voice, meaning Bushwhack has no frontman, no singer. The music is allowed to speak for itself and it is expressive, conveying emotions and impressions adroitly. The duty roster for Bushwhack is as follows: Brandon Green on bass guitar, Frank Sacramone, keyboards and sampling, Ben Shanbrom on percussion, and Jamie Van Dyck on guitar.
These four are terribly talented, as evidenced by the ostentatious liner notes. They feature photos of each band member and a detailed list of the instruments they each play. Yes, something like this is usually included in a record’s liner notes. These just seemed overblown. They seem more interested in appearing to be brilliant and ferocious, than actually sounding so.
Bushwhack, the word, can mean "to clear a path through thick woods" or "ambush." This band doesn't seem to be "clearing any path" through the 'thick wood' of progressive metal or rock – although it should be noted that they aren’t really prog metal, but rather hard rock with a classical orientation. Some of the material contained on their self titled release is reminiscent of other progressive metal bands. Bushwhack, the band, is basically Dream Theater Lite.
“In Silence” opens the record but it seems to be a poor choice. It’s a boring and quiet song that doesn’t truly showcase the potential of this band and certainly does not preview what’s to come.
"Sever the Sky" is a fun song, a decent confluence of metal and a little funky jazz. "Guacomole" is another good track. It has an excellent pace and a good mix of keyboards and guitar. The key word there is mix.
Many of the other tracks are diluted by too much keyboard. "Guacamole" and "Mariachi Massacre" both feature a fabulous splash of timbales with the latter song containing a Latin vibe along with some cool Gershwin-esque rolls. Those few splashes of extras are exciting, but also too few and far between.
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