Bass guitars, those cumbersome and heavy instruments that hold down a songs bottom end and are usually wielded by musicians with severe back problems, usually range from those of the four string variety up to those of eight, Thought Eater's bassist, Darin Tambascio, however prefers to make things a touch more complicated for himself by opting for a bass with no less than twelve strings. It is the sound of this unusual instrument combined with the sonic texturing of Douglas Griffith's guitar and the complex and powerful drumming of Bobby Murray that makes Thought Eater's new release "Bones in the Fire" (Grimoire Records) such a mouth-watering prospect.
Well let us get one thing out of the way first, "Bones in the Fire" is an instrumental album, now if instrumental music is not your thing then you may want to stop reading now but if you do then you are likely to miss out on some truly inspirational jams shot through with rich veins of post-metal and prog-metal texturing. To be honest there is not a lot NOT to enjoy about the six songs Thought Eater present us with here, the bands blend of complexity and good old metallic bluster is as intoxicating as it is breath-taking and in places recalls the metallic edge UK proggers King Crimson brought to us with their iconic opus "Red". From the heavily fuzzed first notes of opener "Bones in the Fire (Part1)" to the serene acoustics and string effects of closer "Umwelt" the band do not miss a chance to impress and astound, shifting grooves like some shift their stance, throwing in a complex jazz progression here a brutal riff there and doing so without once losing sight of each songs core elements, blending structure and chaos together in a blazes of instrumental magnificence.
Hopefully you of the anti-instrumental brigade ignored Desert Psychlist's suggestion earlier to stop reading and stuck with this review of Thought Eater's "Bones in the Fire", wondering what all the fuss is about and intrigued to hear what a twelve string bass sounds like.. well now is the time to find out.
Check it out .....
© 2018 Frazer Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment