If you find acts like Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Brand X, Allan Holdsworth, Canvas Solaris,Freak Kitchen,Behold the Arctopus, and Spastic Ink to your liking, then you might want to grab a hold of Free Electric Sounds' new signing, the instrumental French trio Morglbl. Comprised of guitarist Christophe Godin, drummer Pierre Frelezeau, and bassist Ivan Rougny, the band has been around since 1996, and Grotesk is their third official release. The music here is pretty hard-hitting with plenty of atmospheric elements, as the band juggles crunchy metal with majestic jazz fusion. The humor and exploratory nature of Frank Zappa seems to be present for much of the CD (especially on the zany "Fevrier Afghan"), which gives each track a somewhat light hearted nature, but there's a sense of aggression that really adds an interesting element. While "Buffet Froid" comes across as a sort of long lost Holdsworth cut (with Godin dazzling as scores of notes leap from his fretboard), tunes like "Tapas Nocturne" and "L'Ami Deglingo" have a certain metallic edge that will instantly appeal to prog-metal lovers. Godin's way of making his guitar talk by using the wah-wah pedal on "Le Project Pied De Biche" will remind of Steve Vai, and the axe-meister can even crank up the bluesy hard rock as well, which he does with plenty of grit on "Lieutenant Colombin" and "The Toy Maker". Fans of more straight ahead jazz will probably like the tamer sounds of "Les Petits Nous" and "Haute Voltige En Haute-Volta", the latter a real good vehicle for solo spots from all three members. However, it's the deep, almost funky grooves of the almost Tribal Tech-ish "Totale Bricole" that provides the CD's most impressive fireworks, as the rhythm duo dig deep while Godin fires off some wild whammy bar/wah-wah drenched solo explosions.
It's hard not to like what Morglbl have put together here on Grotesk. If you clamor for solid instrumental music that fuses both metal & jazz, and allows for plenty of solo spots, then you can't go wrong with investigating this one.
Track Listing
01. Tapas Nocturne
02. L'Ami Deglingo
03. Buffet Froid
04. Le Project Pied De Biche
05. Lieutenant Colombin
06. Les Petits Nous
07. The Toy Maker
08. Haute Voltige En Haute-Volta
09. Fevrier Afghan
10. Totale Bricole
11. Il Bello Di Note (Bonus)
12. Studio Delirium (Bonus)
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