Jason Blake is a Warr guitarist from Chicago, Illinois. The Warr Guitar is a twelve-string instrument incorporating the range of a guitar and bass. It is played by tapping the strings, a technique known as touchstyle guitar.
Blake plays with his band, Aziola Cry, a progressive instrumental trio consisting of Warr guitar, guitar, and drums. The band’s debut album, Ellipsis, was labeled “quite a monumental album, the work of high-quality instrumental techno-prog Metal.” The band followed this up with the “dark, unrelenting and complex, ”Ghost Conversations EP which furthered their sound while showcasing Blake’s compositional and playing skills. Next, Blake set out to record the most complex and heavy Aziola Cry release yet. The Ironic Divide, a story of a personal collapse was released in 2021 on Sensory Records. Mixed by Steven Gillis and mastered by Ted Jensen, the album was named “Instrumental Progressive Metal Album of the Year” by Sonic Perspectives. The band has played with bands such as The Aristocrats as well as performed at international festivals around the country including ProgDay and ProgStock. Work on a new album began in 2023.
As a solo artist, Blake is not one to pigeonhole himself as his musical output spans a wide variety of genres. In the ambient realm, he signed with Wayfarer Records in 2021 and has released five albums to date with the label. From his drone series that included The Perfect Fallacy and Dreaming in Numbers to his progressive ambient trilogy, The Ternary Instinct, his music has been featured on radio stations and charts all over the world. Based on Freudian psychoanalytic theory, the first album in the trilogy was Fictional Mirrors (2021) which was called “an aural feast of different sounds,” by Sea of Tranquility. Released the following year, The Compromise Rationale, took the progressive sound a step further and showcased his adventurous approach to the genre. The Prog Space referred to it as an “engaging, unpredictable, instrumental exploration of an incredibly diverse sounding instrument delivered with impeccable precision.” He also spent the better part of 2020 composing a solo Warr guitar suite entitled, Imaginary Cages. Released in 2022, the album led one reviewer to say this about Blake, “He once again confirms why he is one of the most distinguished technicians on the Warr.”
In 2023, Blake released a solo progressive rock album featuring Marco Minnemann on drums. Entitled, Subsequent Ruins, it was called a “beautiful and powerful album. The grand mix of various styles are making Jason Blake emerge as an important figure in the creative metal prog world of 2023.” Later in the year, he released a new solo Warr guitar album, entitled, Radiant Dusk which has been the focus of his live solo shows.