At War With Self

At War With Self is the project conceived by multi-instrumentalist Glenn Snelwar, best known as one of the guitarists on the Gordian Knot debut which featured members of King Crimson, Cynic, Watchtower and Dream Theater.

For the project’s first album Torn Between Dimensions (2005) Glenn collaborated with Mark Zonder (drums & spercussion) and Michael Manring (fretless bass & e-Bow). The instrumental trio created an amalgam of tight-knit compositions encompassing progressive rock, metal, jazz, ambient and classical stylings, often within the boundaries of each composition. The end result was critically acclaimed and continues to grow a following as word of mouth of the project expands.

For Acts of God, the second release from the At War With Self project (2007), Snelwar has desired to create a set of compositions with the intentions of living up to the label ‘progressive’ by dramatically changing almost every facet of the project while staying true to the underlying inspiration of the project’s inception - to combine disparate styles and create music with no boundaries. No better choice than Damon Trotta as a co-writer and bassist to create what is sure to be as intriguing a release as Torn Between Dimensions. With Trotta on bass, vocals, synths and programming and Snelwar on guitars, mandolin and synths, the duo is assisted by Sluggo’s Goon Music labelmates James vonBuelow (guitars), Steve Decker (drums), Mark Sunshine (vocals), Dave Archer (synths) and Manfred Dikkers (drums) to create some truly stunning, inspired progressive music.

The 2009 release A Familiar Path is the third chapter of At War With Self, which is a return to Snelwar’s roots as a musician that maintains the concept of the project changing for each release. The original concept in which Snelwar combined classical guitars into progressive and thrash metal has been re-visited and fully realized with A Familiar Path. The new incarnation of At War With Self features Manfred Dikkers, who joins Snelwar again from the Acts of God sessions on drums and percussion. The tracks on A Familiar Path are “the heaviest, most aggressive and accurate version of what I’ve had in mind for combining metal and progressive influences with classical guitars” says Snelwar. Instrumental tracks such as a hybrid half-classical, half-metal rendition of a Heitor Villa-Lobos guitar study, the Slayer-meets-King Crimson aggression of Concrete and Poison and Diseased State, a new rendering of Reflections originally featured on the debut Gordian Knot disc and the guitar shred of The Ether Trail, are balanced with the vocally-centered title track and Ourselves. A Familiar Path is accompanied with artwork that completes the emotion and intensity inspired by the 42 minutes on the disc.

A Familiar Path will be released world-wide November 2009. Previews of all tracks are available at the artist’s website

Members

 * Glenn Snelwar - electric and acoustic guitars, mandolins, bass, keyboards, e-bow, string arrangements and programming, vocals

Featuring, for Torn Between Dimensions:
 * Michael Manring - fretless bass and e-bow
 * Mark Zonder - drums, percussion

Featuring, for Acts of God:
 * Damon Trotta - bass guitar, vocals, synths, resonator guitars, e-bow, didgeridoo, programming
 * Mark Sunshine - vocals
 * James Von Buelow - guitars, programming
 * Dave Archer - synths
 * Steve Decker - drums
 * Manfred Dikkers - drums, percussion

Featuring, for A Familiar Path:
 * Manfred Dikkers - drums, percussion
 * Maggie Snelwar - backing vocals

Discography

 * Torn Between Dimensions (2005)
 * Acts of God (2007)
 * A Familiar Path (2009)