Every now and then, something pops up in the musical scene that is a little bit too good for general consumption. These artists are far enough ahead of the curve that it takes the rest of the market a year or even more to catch up. This is one of the reasons why "Rush" is so hard to understand. As long as you listen to them thinking of today's music, you won't get it. But, if you open your mind a bit more, you get a good feel for what mainstream is going to sound like a couple years down the road.

"Bliss" is a duet, with Michael Trapp playing all of the instruments and Matt Wells doing all of the vocals. "Bliss" was created for one reason: to record the ultimate rock CD - and they almost did.

Mike explains, "What has been seriously lacking in the music of the 90's is the range and diversity of albums by bands such as The Beatles and Zeppelin. I can't and won't write the same song 14 times and have that be a CD. There is an amazing range of emotion on this disc."

That's what "Bliss" is all about. Each track has a distinct flavor. The "Zeppelin" influence is strong, but this may work against Matt's voice capability, because as you listen to the music you expect a high pitched wail, like Robert Plant or Ozzy would do. The instrumental department is fine in the capable hands of Michael Trapp. This is also a self-inflicted wound, because it kills any attempt at a credible live performance.

On this CD you will find a little bit of everything. "Insides Out" sounds like "Journey." "Rejoice" and "Sick" are too close to "Nine Inch Nails" for comfort. "Wrecked" starts off like something right out of "Guns and Roses," and then degenerates into a mix of "Led Zeppelin" and "Black Sabbath." And it keeps going on.

"Bliss" shows promise, and this CD can be considered as an experiment, just to test the waters. Even if most of their music is based on splicing together different musical styles, it still beats Puff Daddy's sampling everything he can left and right. "Bliss" actually extracts the true feeling of the bands they are influenced by, instead of blatantly sampling them. If I was in a bad mood I would call them the ultimate tribute band in the world, but they aren't. I'm betting that they're going to polish their sound a bit more, and with time, they will sound more distinctive. What they need to do is add some blues to the equation. "Chasing The Mad Rabbit" is a good CD, worth a purchase. And from here they can only get better.