I was recently talking with an employee of Island Def Jam and he was raving about this band that they had recently signed. Always one to try new music, I said "shit yeah, send it to me. I'll listen to anything." In the back of my head I kind of figured that the guy was doing his job and hyping this new band and didn't expect much from the disc being sent my way.

   So a couple days go by and Greenwheel's Soma Holiday arrives in the mail. I gave it a quick listen and wasn't too impressed. After a few days, I decided to gave the disc a more thorough listen. Funny thing was, songs started sticking with me. Two guitars, a kick ass drum, Greenwheel is very tight musically. With a sound somewhere between matchbox twenty and Fuel, Greenwheel rips through the 45-minute Soma Holiday. With the layered sound of two big guitars, Greenwheel shows a lot of promise and strong writing on their Island debut.

   The standout track on the disc is "Breathe." This song has hit written all over it. I will go out on a limb (granted a small limb) and say that "Breathe" is going to be heard all over the place when it is released as a single later this year. Other stand out tracks include: "Shelter," "Sustain You," "Identity," "Radiance," and "Dim Halo" – another hit just waiting to be released. The only problem with the disc is some songs do get lost in the shuffle as they all have a very similar structure and sound.

   Greenwheel is a very strong band and Soma Holiday is already on my short list of best CDs of 2002. Greenwheel is about to break big with Soma Holiday, and don't be surprised when "Breathe" is everywhere by the end of the year.