Search - Brian Bromberg :: Metal

Joyous, exhilarating, masterful

spiral_mind | Pennsylvania | 05/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Call it serendipity. Instrumental guitar-rock is a big pleasure of mine, but often it's increasingly hard to find something *new* that doesn't sound like just another entry in the genre. I certainly never thought that I'd find the most brilliant and exciting recent discovery in that vein lying around in the jazz rack, let alone find out that it doesn't even have any guitars. But life is full of surprises.



Brian Bromberg's gimmick here is that all the guitar-sounding tracks come from a high-tuned bass, but that doesn't really matter. All the gimmicks possible couldn't save an album without a solid musical foundation to build on, and he's got that in spades. Metal's mode is basically in the rock camp, mostly in a simple power-trio format (unusual only because Brian constitutes 2/3 of the trio himself), and the chord structures seem fairly straightforward. It's hard driving, high-octane stuff that blazes by in a mind-boggling dance across the frets. But BB has a jazzer's improv ability and an expert bassist's knowledge of harmonics, so he takes the whole thing into a melodic realm Satriani and Vai usually only flirt with. (In the guitar-god realm Steve Morse is the closest comparison I can make, and I mean that as a very good thing indeed.)



As with the best jazz, there's really no lead part. Brian lays down tracks with the regular four- or five-string and flies over them with the higher-sounding 'guitar'-tuned bass, and the two sounds basically exist as equals. Both take turns as lead, both supply rhythm underneath the other, both are used for wild solos. Most often all the parts are 'soloing' at once. There are no mere holding patterns, no repeating grooves; pick any one part to listen to at any time and you can hear him constantly mutating and changing the riffs throughout. And that's not to mention that the lightning-speed virtuosity on display is literally stunning - "The Dungeon" and "Trade Show" alone are evidence enough that Brian's either a robot or has made the same deal with the devil as Jaco Pastorius and Victor Wooten.



Buy this album; it's as much of a jolt as the strongest coffee you can make and lasts a lot longer. Then go back to BB's gorgeous 2002 album Wood (this disc's polar opposite) to complete the picture."

The best shred guitar music I've heard in a while...

khryoleoz | 02/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...since the early releases by Tony MacAlpine, Greg Howe, and Steve Vai. Though stylistically this is a departure from Bromberg's jazz outings, in one way he keeps to the familiar jazz structure of head, melodic improvisation, head, then outro. And while he improvises with technical mastery as fine as the familiar guitar shredders, he does so with interesting melodic phrases and each track is graced with some very cool rock grooves. Brian's tone is sweet and the overall production is well crafted. As one of my favorite bass players, Brian Bromberg has amazed me with fine upright and electric bass playing since his recording with Rob Mullin's Jazz Jazz. This latest release is by far the most different, but only in terms of style. Brian's moving melodiscm and great writing is present throughout and I am thoroughly enjoying this offering. God bless you, Brian."

It doesn't sound like a bass, but it is!

D. L. Worthing | Arundel, Maine United States | 05/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Bassist Brian Bromberg's style of traditional and contemporary jazz playing takes a vacation at "Metal" land.

Bromberg takes a shot at rock bass and hits a homerun.

The amazing part is besides the drums and some keyboards the entire string section is bass, and the real funny thing is a lot of the time you think your listening to some really great guitar work, it's remarkable.

The talented Bromberg lets it fly and it's just unbelievable bass playing.

I've listened to it a number of times and am still floored that it's a bass.

Check it out for yourself. It's phenominal.

"