SKYWALK: LONG ROAD TO AN IDENTITY : SKYWALK: IT’S A LONG ROAD TO AN IDENTITY

Fusion, that uniquely American musical hybrid of jazz and rock, has crossed the Canadian border and come back in the form of Skywalk, a sextet of young players who have yet to find either a niche or an identity.

Though the group is closer to a niche--its first album, “Silent Witness,” performed well enough on the charts to secure a major label deal for its second, “The Bohemians”--than it is to an identity, it nonetheless offers satisfactory promise to audiences who prefer groove-based music at high decibels rather than improvised music with dynamic concern.

At the Roxy Tuesday night, the group showed itself to be a heavy-handed band that would do well to re-examine the more subtle and evenhanded efforts of its most obvious influence, Spyro Gyra.

Exploring the range from loud to deafening, Skywalk plodded its way through a series of tunes that varied only in melodic statements. Its harmonies, untextured except by electronic gimmickry, were about as intricate and interesting as a starless night sky. Tiresome unison melody lines, a device fusionists should have abandoned long ago, abounded, and their plaintive effectiveness quickly bored.

While guitarist Harris Van Berkel showed himself a capable technician, his lack of originality was disconcerting. Similarly, saxophonist Tom Keenlyside, whose sound was adrift in an echo chamber, suffered from a lack of identity.

Bassist Rene Worst, reveling in the process of “thrashing” his instrument in a most unmusical fashion, showed himself a poor Jaco Pastorius imitator, while Graeme Coleman, armed with a battery of synthesizers, gave credence to the notion that more is less.

While the band’s records seem somewhat satisfactory in the fusion field, the group does not translate well to live performance.