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Let me start out by saying that Tribal Tech
has some very good musicians playing on this highly experimental
1999 release, which is a mixture of fusion, jazz, and bluesy
guitar riffs. There are grooves on top of grooves, some
brash King Crimson wank splattering across the sonic canvas,
and a few otherwise interesting moments during this 51-minute
jam session.
That said, many of the truly experimental
moments are not handled with what I'd call "politeness to
the ear," but are rather sort of vomited at the ear for
all they're worth, which isn't much. I particularly hated
track 4, "Clinic Troll." It was ill-handled samples in a
mish-mash barrage of nonsense that never went anywhere.
Experiments with noise should be handled in a way to illicit
a mood, but this was more of a situation where the guys
clearly had a bunch of different things they thought "sounded
cool" and threw them together, to the detriment of their
listeners.
The mood is more properly spoonfed in the
last two tracks, but it comes a bit too late. I fear the
listener will never make it to the end of the CD's journey
to appreciate this reasonably good denoument.
I hear some great blues and jazz influences
by keyboardist Scott Kinsey in some of his more traditional
moments, and I wish they were explored more. I tend to blame
the keyboardist when too much elecronic fiddle faddle gets
in the way (ironic, since I'm also a keyboard player and
very much into electronica), and I must do so here, especially
when he's credited as using "a multitude of keyboards too
numerous to mention."
I also want to touch "bass" here and mention
the almighty prowess of bassist Gary Willis. If you listen
to one track on the CD, check out track 7, "Slick." It starts
a mind-bending minute-and-a-half bass solo, followed by
Kinsey going absolutely ballistic with a fusion organ for
another minute, with Henderson following suit with an already
familiar exploration, but one of the better ones. All the
while, drummer Kirk Covington loses his mind underneath
it all in a dizzying slurry, culminating in the fourth minute
with his own showcase. Definitely my shred pick of the litter.
Worth a listen, and a re-listen, but there
are some skippable tracks.
Shred Pick: "Slick" (5:14)
Reviewed by David
C. Lovelace
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