Attention Deficit ~ The Idiot King (album review) ... Alex Skolnick strikes again from left field!

Style: instrumental, funk-rock, jazz-rock
Label: Magna Carta
Year: 2001
Home: n/a (disbanded)

Members: Alex Skolnick ~ guitars
Michael Manring ~ bass
Tim "Herb" Alexander ~ drums

While the outcomes don't always interest me as sometimes I feel they careen out of focus & are often one-off affairs that need more developing, I do greatly respect former Testament/Savatage guitarist Alex Skolnick who not not just refuses to sit in any box but destroy it completely more times then not ... oh, he's also a nice guy too having met him once. How many thrash guitarists do you know who have checked themselves into jazz guitar college courses? Well, there's been a few, but none have pursued a degree like Skolnick & none have gone on to make as many non-thrash albums albums as thrash ones. Though, like I said, I loved to see him develop a few more facets of his sound out over time versus a bunch of one-off 'here's a funk album, here's a jazz album.' AD is one of his many instrumental projects that brings together jazz funk & rock in a weird quasi-rock mix that might just be the highlight of Skolnick's non-thrash career. It's also one of the few developed ones, the trio having done three albums together, & while it may dip in the focus at times it gels musically in a way that makes up for that far more than Skolnick's other projects. AD includes experimental drummer Tim "Herb" Alexander formerly of Primus & master jazz bassist Michael Manring, on 10 string bass, who studied with Jaco Pastorius & has becomes the top session man for Windham Hill Records. They've done two albums together, this is their more focused second, & Alexander & Skolnick where on Manring's solo album Thonk & Manring & Skolnick where together in the cop-themed funk band Skol-Patrol. The time together shows. The problem I have with some of Skolnick's forays is that its ultimately about a lot of shredding & riffing, but in different styles, here he might lay back more than he ever has for his truest fusion jazz release turning in major quasi-rock riffs alongside light turns of phrase & giving the other boys lots of time. The outcome is a true group effort. Perhaps intentionally or not, it hearkens a bit of a slow moody Primus though this is because of Manring not Alexander. Alexander turns in atmospheric jazz drumming, I think of the late Paul Motion of the Bill Evans Trio, versus straight rock drumming. Alexander rides the wave of the beat instead of forcing it & cluttering it. Manring actually has one of those thick gritty sounds, perhaps Tony Levin might be a comparison for rockers & certainly Jaco's influence comes through, that's everything but what one expects to hear from a bass & you'll be shocked from his first notes. He creates this thick wall of sound that's often as upfront as Skolnick. Both AD albums are masterpieces of experimental jazz-funk-rock. Lots of space between the notes just the way I like them & certainly not anything you've come to expect from Skolnick, so two bonuses, plus AD introduced me to a new bass player so three bonuses. Folks listening will also be amazed by Manring & Alexander to the point where Skolnick is the least of your focus at time, as I said, true group effort. This is the album Skolnick went to school to make without a doubt. Sometimes soft & atmospheric, sometimes fast & furious, sometimes a bit rock, sometimes a bit jazz or funk. Skolnick fans shouldn't miss this for anything. Both albums are great, but I prefer this second one as it feels more group-cohesive & less experimental.

Savatage ~ Live Japan '94 (aka Live In Japan) (DVD review) ... The rising sun of Savatage!

Style: prog-rock, heavy metal
Label: SPV
Year: 1994
Home: Florida/New York

Concert location: Club Citta Kawasaki, Tokyo, Japan
Year Recorded: November 1994
Length: 95 minutes
Bonus Features: none

Members: Jon Oliva ~ lead vocals/piano/rhythm guitar
Zak Stevens ~ lead vocals
Alex Skolnick ~ guitar
Johnny Lee Middleton ~ bass
Jeff Plate ~ drums

Kicking off with the fierce "Taunting Cobras" followed by "Edge Of Thorns", from the albums Handful Of Rain & Edge Of Thorns respectively ... with those two songs one should not anymore wonder why Savatage is my favorite band. These two songs pretty much set out everything that is great about Savatage at this point in their career: non-typical lyrics that you can sing-along with, neo-classical prog-metal arrangements with not a whiff of hairspray pretentiousness, great guitar playing & strong singing that isn't the usual 80's screaming & an array of studio albums churning out cult hit after cult hit. At this point in their career Savatage had tragically lost their founding guitarist Criss Oliva in a car accident, his heart-broken brother Jon had handed over the reigns of the band to producer Paul O'Neil who turned it into a progressive rock opera beast, while all other original members had moved on to be replaced with very different rockers including a singer with the voice of Thor & a famed thrash guitarist. This concert finds the band on the last night of touring Handful Of Rain that features Savatage in their second or third era depending on how one wants to count transitions. Fronting the ensemble is still rookie singer Zak Stevens, who'd later form Circle II Circle. He sings with amazing vocal chops that are deep & powerful, yet nuanced, without following into any of the rock clichés of growls or screams. Original drummer Steve Wacholz was on the album but replaced before the tour by Jeff Plate. The rhythm section is rounded out by second bassist Johnny Lee Middleton. Both of these guys would follow Savatage's morph into the less venomous but more profitable Trans-Siberian Orchestra ... the metal band for grandparents & kids alike. On the album Oliva only contributes some keyboards & is the omni-present co-songwriter, having left in a alcoholic stupor & working on his Romanov opera & Doctor Butcher with former Savatage rhythm guitarist Chris Caffery. Oliva is not even given a photo in the linear notes & with him gone its hard to call this Savatage anymore as there's few obvious similiarities with the group that turned out the proto-black metal treasures Sirens & The Dungeons Are Calling. Though, really, what the band became, as can be seen on this tour in some of the classically-tinged piano interludes, with Paul O'Neill writing & producing is the vision Oliva had in the beginning but was unable to reach on his own ... it's just a shame that it had to happen through tragedy. Oliva returned for this tour, even singing lead vocals with Stevens after a 2 years absence from the role. Replacing the late Criss Oliva for the album & tour was top-notch thrash guitarist Alex Skolnick who'd recently left Testament. After this tour he'd move on, replaced by Al Pitrelli, though would return for Trans-Siberian Orchestra where his second hat as a jazz guitarist had a better fit. Here Skolnick is playing both his creations & those of Criss Oliva, but gives all of them his own touch. Criss was very much in the mold of Randy Rhoads with a bit too much energy, while Skolnick is more of a prog-metal guy & the distinction is obvious. But, Skolnick is nothing but a worthy successor & there is no disappointment. Because his time with Savatage was so brief Handful Of Rain sometimes gets lost in the shuffle between the multi-year terms of Oliva & Pitrelli. But, this might be their last in your face album & certainly their most progressive before going full on classical & commercial with the follow-up Dead Winter Dead. All but three songs from the album (i.e. "Visions", "Symmetry" & "Alone You Breathe") appear on this concert making this a great introduction to the brief Skolnick days that should be anything but the footnote it has become. One can only wonder what would have happened if he'd stayed & been given the chance to create an album with a more active Oliva plus Chris Caffery on rhythm. This video is the first official video release by Savatage ... it would also prove to be their only video release, ironically featuring a band that was essentially in line-up flux, & it is by the grace of bootleggers that the rest of Savatage's days have been preserved. It's a shame that this is their only official video as it's an outstanding performance. Though, honestly, this is not the most visually exciting band preferring the stand & sing approach over the go crazy & scream tactic. But, then, it's no different than Megadeth, Metallica or any thrash band, all who Savatage had opened for many times. L.A. hair metal gave standing still a bad name. But, one doesn't need physical distractions as the music is heavy, the band tight & the arrangements sounding amazing transferred to the stage, which isn't always the case. The only bad part is that Oliva, grown quite heavy, wanders the edge of the stage playing piano with but bad fingering & playing rhythm guitar on an upside down right handed guitar. He's a shadow of the man that was given the name the Mountain King & once strutted the stage like Meat Loaf meets Ozzy. But, Oliva only returned because Atlantic Records wouldn't support his new project Doctor Butcher & Savatage at the same time. As he's said repeatedly, with the death of his brother came the death of Savatage in anything but name only so there is a sense that he is a sideman in his own band. But, he gets a moment to shine with "Gutter Ballet" now turned into a duet, which would remain that way for ensuing tours featuring Damond Jinya taking over the lead role. The new arrangement far exceeds Oliva's sole vocals on the original & makes one wonder what if it had been like if more duets had been proposed. It's surprising that the band has never seen the magic in this set-up even through Trans-Siberian Orchestra where the array of great, if not as distinctive as Oliva, vocalists make this even more potentially powerful. No bonus features as it this released only on VHS, with the label sold before a re-released on DVD could happen. It would take a decade to be available on DVD & then as a bonus disc on the greatest hits compilation Still The Orchestra Plays: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2 

Acrassicauda ~ Only The Dead See The End Of The War (EP) (album review) ... Heavy metal in Baghdad!

Style: thrash, heavy metal
Label: Vice Records
Year: 2010
Home: Baghdad, Iraq

Members: Faisal Talal Mustafa ~ vocals/rhythm guitar
Tony Aziz Yaqoo ~ lead guitar
Firas Al-Lateef ~ bass
Marwan Hussain Riyadh ~ drums

Immediately the ears are bombarded with a fierce thrash attack that jumps right out of the door with distorted guitars, fast solos & an incredibly heavy rhythm section behind it all. Its in additional listens that one really picks up on the attractiveness of the choppy rhythms that bring early Soundgarden to mind. Though, listeners expecting something musically different than the normal thrash because of the country of origin will largely be disappointed outside of a little glimmer of bongos & religious cries at the end of "Garden Of Stones". This is metal right out of the American mold with essentially little variation, the lyrics are even in English except for a spoken word introduction in "Massacre", demonstrating the international influence of thrash for those that might think otherwise of this metal sub-division. But, this isn't any old band imitating American thrash but the first heavy metal group to emerge from Iraq, formed under the regime of Saddam Hussein. To stay somewhat unmolested they even wrote a song praising Saddam ... which the lyrics to this American produced album show was only a PR move, to put it lightly. Though, for whatever good it did they not just adopted the American metal sound but also the reputation receiving death threats from Islamic militants who thought they worshipped Satan. Today the members of the band are refugees in the U.S. having been driven from their homeland, plus Syria & Turkey. Formed in 2001 this EP is essentially their debut as previous releases were no more than demos unofficial in glimmers were the law allowed ... such as being featured in the ground-breaking movie Heavy Metal In Baghdad. After the film their music was found attractive enough by Testament/Savatage/Trans-Siberian Orchestra guitarist Alex Skolnick to offer his services as their producer. A minor problem with this release is that one really wants to hear the lyrics knowing that however typical metal they may sound there's real messages of personal torment & strife below the clichés. The opening track "Message From Baghdad" features the least interesting & most difficult to discern singing of the four tracks, though it also features some of the heaviest & choppiest riffs. Things get more clear in the following songs where lines like "They've got the power to control my fate/I'd rather die then disintegrate ... just set me free & let me breathe" from "Message", with an echo-filled guitar solo that sounds influenced by Alex Skolnick's style & an attractive duel vocal style, are anything but cliched lines. A real highlight of the album is the six minute "The Unknown" that closes the album with the fastest & wildest riffs, & most Soundgarden-like, with its cries of "living in a world of hate" & a hypnotic flavor under all of it.