10 tracks. Running time 56:03 Guido Meyer's 2007 offering contains familiar EM rock elements but this time he's added less strident instrumentation such as glockenspiel and wind chimes, and even a coffee cup! The title Connected to the Dead is a reference to paranormal activities with a family member when he was young. Ghostly washes and wooden rattles open the album in the short piece “The Gathering”. Light churchly organ sounds then add an eerie sense of the supernatural while swirling washes and otherworldly tinkling stand out in a build up to a crescendo. A couple of tracks later Guido plugs in and lets rip his heavy metal guitar in “On the Other Side” which is soaked in blistering guitar lines and drums broken up by a just as unsettling interlude of bright glissandos, distorted groaning voices, and whistles. This is the only track straying into heavy metal territory, though some pieces such as “Multidimensional” do feature electric guitar plus drum programming and percussion. In this track there's a lot of synth initially followed later by guitar tones and playing a little reminiscent of Mike Oldfield's Five Miles Out. It's in the aptly titled “Ghost Sonata” that guitar is eschewed in favour of a springy piano sound and synth effects. You can imagine the spirit of a pianist playing forlornly as ghostly whistles and humming sounds glide around and voices merge almost imperceptibly with the music. The way Guido uses guitar and other sounds on Connected to the Dead does give a sense of communing with spirits and another realm. The mix of some melodic EM rock with discordant spectral ambient passages works well overall. It should appeal to those who like bold music that grabs the listener at a visceral level.