Cab is a virtual supergroup of musicians drawn from the metal, jazz, and fusion genres. On this sophomore release, all these above styles come into play for a cohesive, progressive rock tour-de-force with a strong fusion vibe. The band is made up of Tony MacAlpine on guitars, Bunny Brunel on bass, Dennis Chambers on drums, and Brian Auger on Hammond organ, piano and synths, and the results are truly a unified effort.
While amazing solos and flashes of true technical ability abound here, every song has a melody that is instantly memorable. Guitarist MacAlpine does a great job at toning down his neo-classical shredding for a style similar to Frank Gambale or Allan Holdsworth, and it really works here. The perfect foil for this style is bassist Bunny Brunel, who trades unison melody lines with MacAlpine in jaw dropping fashion, but also uses his instrument as a lead performer as well, much like the late Jaco Pastorius. The ever-dependable Brian Auger provides the right amount of bluesy and funky textures with his monstrous Hammond B3, while Dennis Chambers is right at home here with his nimble yet powerful style. All these years perfecting his craft with the Mike Stern Group has made him a drummer to be reckoned with.
To compare this band's sheer sense of reckless abandon and melody to any other, one needs to only remember the classic recordings of Return to Forever. In the case of that band as well, all members really stood out, but contributed equally for an original, awesome end result. To compare to a modern band, Tribal Tech might come to mind, but I think Cab does what they do more effectively, more impressively, and with a great sense of melody. If you like chops mixed with memorable songs in an instrumental format, you can’t go wrong here.
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