While new metal and progressive bands have been exploding onto the scene seemingly everyday, Gordian Knot has been releasing excellent progressive music to a small following for the last five years. Born from the ashes of prog-death forefathers Cynic, bassist Sean Malone takes progressive metal in different, unforeseen directions with every release. Emergent takes Gordian Knot to the next level, with some help from several highly respected guest musicians.

Deservedly, the album opens with a fretless bass solo in which Malone shows off his immense level of skill through complex fusion melodies, rather than speed. This becomes a trend for the album. The next track, Mutterspache features Cynic guitarist Jason Gobel and drummer Sean Reinhart, along with former Genesis and GTR guitarist Steve Hackett, who appears to have had quite a bit of influence on the song which contains a break that sounds very similar to mid-70s Genesis. A Shaman’s Whisper follows, with four members of Cynic playing. Unlike the previous track, this song sounds similar to tracks from the first Gordian Knot album, Reflections in particular. The song gets very intense and features a number of excellent solos and Chapman Stick playing by Malone.

The album takes a different direction with the next song, Fisher’s Gambit. The three Cynic members from Mutterspache join Fate’s Warning guitarist Jim Matheos for a more mellow song that is one of the best on the album, thanks especially to Matheos' beautiful acoustic guitar work. A live Stick solo, called Grace follows. Though it is not a flurry of notes as Malone is capable of, the song manages to keep my interest through its eight-minute duration. The performers of the next track can only be described as super group material: Malone, Gobel, Matheos, Hackett, and Bill Bruford of Yes, King Crimson, and Genesis on Drums. Despite the lineup, Some Brighter Thing is one of the weaker songs on the Emergent, and is skip-able for the first five minutes until Hackett’s solo saves the end of it.

Malone and Bruford get to show off their jazz sides in The Brook the Ocean. Both manage show exactly why they’re regarded among the best in the business. Singing Deep Mountain features the Some Brighter Thing lineup and is the only song with vocals on the album. The vocals and Matheos’ playing makes this song sound somewhat similar to late-‘80s Peter Gabriel. Hackett and Malone also shine throughout. Bruford's playing is solid as usual, but his performance on this song, and most of the album is among the most restrained in his career.

Gordian Knot does something other progressive instrumental bands can’t seem to, they impress through melodies and writing rather than technical wizardry, although they’re also capable of that. Emergent is simply an excellent album, and must be heard by all fans of progressive music.