Bands who play only instrumentals, especially in metal, are often neglected. The main reasons are two - either the music is too fussy and complex or it’s impersonal, but in both cases the result is almost the same: the listeners’ interest can’t be won. In most situations the musicians in such bands are trying to point out their skills and technique, recording albums that are perceived contradictive. Canvas Solaris are hard to put in any of the described categories. Even though they are a new name in this business, they are doing a great job with their musical experiments. Two guitars, bass, synthesizer, drums and percussion take place in their third album, “Cortical Tectonics”. If someone knows them from previous records, he will not be surprised by the new songs, which are only six here. This small number is a great decision, because when we talk about instrumental pieces the traditional understandings about the postulates in progressive metal are not valid. In substance, “Cortical Tectonics” is really interesting. It starts with complicated, near Death-like riffs and modulations, mixes wonderful melodies and ends calmly, just in time - a minute before you are bored - leaving a wish to play it again. The culmination is logically made by the 17 minutes of “Reticular Consciousness”, which contain the whole idea of the project called Canvas Solaris and prove the musicians’ qualities in an unarguable way. An instrumental album should contain a large quantity of high quality material to hold the attention for more than 40 minutes. These Americans do not make something unique and they are not fighting for popularity, but they reassert that they deserve it.