Spastic Ink was a

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

History

Spastic Ink was formed in 1993 by guitarist

Ron Jarzombek Ron Jarzombek is an American guitarist best known for his work with WatchTower, Spastic Ink, and Blotted Science, featuring Alex Webster of Cannibal Corpse. His most recent project is Terrestrial Exiled. He released a brand new song, "Beyon ...

Watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

after recovering from multiple hand surgeries that had sidelined him, unable to play, for a couple of years. He would be joined by brother

Bobby Jarzombek Bobby Jarzombek is an American musician of Polish and German ancestry who is currently the drummer for country music legend George Strait. Bobby also has been a drummer for: vocalist Sebastian Bach, and progressive metal band Fates Warning. ...

on drums and bass player Pete Perez (both of

Riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

at the time). The trio soon cut a demo consisting of 11 songs which was shopped to various labels in hopes of landing a record deal and the necessary funds to re-cut the material properly. However, the band's all-instrumental highly complex progressive metal was deemed 'not commercially viable' and no deals were forthcoming. Eventually, the band was able to secure a licensing agreement with German-based indie label Dream Circle Records for the release of the original demos, slightly cleaned up, 'as is'. ''

Ink Complete ''Ink Complete'' is progressive instrumental band Spastic Ink's debut album, released in 1997 via Germany's Dream Circle label and re-issued in 2000 on EclecticElectric, with 25 minutes of 'work tapes' added as bonus tracks. Track listing # "Th ...

'' was finally released to rave reviews in 1997. Only months later, Dream Circle went bankrupt and the band lost out on several thousand dollars in royalties. Ron Jarzombek would re-issue the album on his own EclecticElectric label in 2000 with 25 minutes of 'work tapes' added as bonus material. Work on a follow-up would prove tedious as Ron was forced to expand the original 3-piece line-up due to Bobby and Pete's commitments with

and Bobby joining Halford, the new band formed by former

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Despite an innovative and pioneering body of work in th ...

vocalist

Rob Halford Robert John Arthur Halford (born 25 August 1951) is an English heavy metal singer. He is the lead vocalist of Judas Priest, which was formed in 1969 and has received accolades such as the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. He has b ...

in 2000. Both

Sean Reinert Sean Reinert (May 27, 1971 – January 24, 2020) was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic (band), Cynic until leaving the band in Septemb ...

( Cynic,

Gordian Knot The Gordian Knot is an Ancient Greek legend of Phrygian Gordium associated with Alexander the Great who is said to have cut the knot in 333 BC. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem (untying an impossibly tangled knot) sol ...

) and

Asgeir Mickelson Asgeir Mickelson (born 30 September 1969) is a Norwegian musician, artist, photographer and music reviewer. Although primarily known as a drummer, he is also a skilled guitarist and bassist. Biography He has stated on his official message board ...

(

Spiral Architect Spiral Architect was a Norwegian progressive metal band from Oslo. The group formed in 1993 and recorded one demo and one full-length album, '' A Sceptic's Universe,'' as well as a Fates Warning cover "A Prelude to Ruin" for the tribute album ...

) were set to perform drum tracks at certain times, but backed out due to conflicts with other projects. With the album in limbo,

turned his attention to doing a solo album, ''Solitarily Speaking of Theoretical Confinement'', utilizing programmed drums and playing everything himself. Eventually, Ron would re-focus on Spastic Ink, with both Dave Penna and Jeff Eber of Dysrhythmia contributing drum tracks and brother Bobby cutting the rest of the tracks in between work with Halford. Jarzombek also got contributions from fellow guitarist

Marty Friedman Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 until ...

(ex-

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

Pain of Salvation Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the band's main songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and vocalist. Pain of Salvation's sound is characterised by riff-oriented guitar work, a broad vocal range, o ...

vocalist

Daniel Gildenlöw Pain of Salvation is a Swedish progressive metal band led by Daniel Gildenlöw, who is the band's main songwriter, lyricist, guitarist, and vocalist. Pain of Salvation's sound is characterised by riff-oriented guitar work, a broad vocal range, o ...

bandmates Jason McMaster and Doug Keyser, bassists Pete Perez,

Sean Malone Sean Malone (April 12, 1970 – December 7, 2020) was an American musician who played primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman Stick. He was most famous for his work with progressive metal band Cynic, in which he developed a strong partners ...

( Cynic), Ray Riendeau ( Halford,

Machines of Loving Grace Machines of Loving Grace was an American industrial rock band from Tucson, Arizona, best known for their song "Butterfly Wings". History Formation Named after the Richard Brautigan poem "All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace", Machines ...

), and

Michael Manring Michael Manring (born June 27, 1960) is an American bass guitarist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Biography Michael Manring was born in Annapolis, Maryland,Tom Mulhern, ''Bass Heroes: Styles, Stories & Secrets of 30 Great Bass Players : from ...

(

Michael Hedges Michael Alden Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist and songwriter. Early years The son of Thayne Alden Hedges and Ruth Evelyn Hedges Ipsen, Michael Hedges was born in Sacramento, California. His l ...

, Attention Deficit), as well as keyboardists

Jens Johansson Jens Ola Johansson (born 2 November 1963 in Stockholm) is a Swedish keyboardist and pianist who currently plays in the Finnish power metal band Stratovarius and Ritchie Blackmore's rock project Rainbow. He is notable for his high-speed neoclas ...

(

Stratovarius Stratovarius is a Finnish power metal band that formed in 1985. Since their formation, they have released sixteen studio albums, five DVDs and six live albums. In its history, the band has gone through many chaotic lineup changes, and after fo ...

), Jimmy Pitts (

Scholomance The Scholomance ( ro, Șolomanță, italic=no , Solomonărie ) was a fabled school of black magic in Romania, especially in the region of Transylvania. It was run by the Devil, according to folkloric accounts. The school enrolled about ten student ...

, The Fractured Dimension), and David Bagsby. ''

Ink Compatible ''Ink Compatible'' is the second full-length album from Spastic Ink. It was released in 2004 after a four-year process via Ron Jarzombek's EclecticElectric label, except for Japan and Southeast Asia where it was released by Avalon/Marquee. It wa ...

'' was released in 2004 via Jarzombek's EclecticElectric label and Avalon/Marquee in Japan.

Musical style

Spastic Ink specialize in very complex instrumental fusion metal by using uncommon time signatures, frequent changes of time signatures and extremely unusual melodies. For example, the song "A Wild Hare" aurally recreates a scene from ''

Bambi ''Bambi'' is a 1942 American animated drama film directed by David Hand (supervising a team of sequence directors), produced by Walt Disney and based on the 1923 book ''Bambi, a Life in the Woods'' by Austrian author and hunter Felix Salten. ...

'', even down to the dialogue, which is wordlessly mimicked by the guitar. This produces a very unusual sound that can come across as cacophonous, especially if the listener is unaware of the connection between the song and the cartoon.

Discography

Albums

*''

'' (Dream Circle 1997), (EclecticElectric 2000) *''

'' (ElectricElectric / Marquee/Avalon 2004)

External links

Spastic Ink Facebook

Spastic Ink ReverbNation page

Spastic Ink MySpace

Encyclopaedia Metallum page

Ron Jarzombek online

{{Authority control American progressive metal musical groups Musical groups established in 1993 Musical groups disestablished in 2004 Heavy metal musical groups from Texas American musical trios Sibling musical groups