Trevor Rabin - Rio (InsideOut Music)
Rio is Trevor Rabin's first solo album with vocals in 34 years, his previous album Jacaranda was all instrumental, so fans have been waiting for a vocal album since 1989's Can't Look Away. Not that the South African multi instrumentalist had been bored in that time since leavin Yes in 1994 he's contributed to numerous film soundtracks (mainly for Jerry Bruckheimer) so is pretty in demand but he has been noting down his own ideas in preparation for a new album.
Much like on his first to solo records Rabin threw himself totally into this one contributing all the instruments and vocals having a couple of helping hands along the way, mainly on drums and percussion but mostly Rio is a stylistic menagerie where this virtuoso gets to play exactly what he wants with no constraints. Yes there's some of the pop/prog moments he brought to his tenure with Yes , I mean he is the co-writer Owner Of A Lonely Heart, in fact the entire 90125 album coming from his demos, so it's no wonder that Big Mistakes manages to sound like that radio friendly version of Yes. Big Mistakes also reminds me of the Don Henley and Tom Petty, the strings and guitars ringing out over the that classic, bold production style of Rabin.
Push is a bit more progressive, especially in the percussion and it's here that I'm surprised how similar to Jon Anderson, Rabin is vocally, it makes me a little annoyed I didn't get to see ARW, which featured Trevor, Anderson and Rick Wakeman, when they toured as it would have been brilliant to hear those harmonies. Push is pure Yes with fewer keys, while Oklahoma is an acoustic showcase that's evolves into a cinematic masterpiece climaxing in an emotional solo with Paradise into some country rocking as does Goodbye. This record sounds incredible, the production values are as high as you can get and the playing is also virtuoso, just check out the way Thandi works as a track, turning a love song into a guitar workout as These Tears a ballad with some huge melodies.
The working title of this album was The Demographic Nightmare and it's exactly that, much like Rio the place, the album is colourful, vivid and dynamic. Well worth the wait of 34 years if you're prog/pop fan! 9/10
Jelusick - Follow The Blind Man (Escape Music)
In 2021, Dino Jelusick's breakthrough band Animal Drive had to dispand due to a conflict with Frontiers Music. Since then he has continued to be a part of Trans Siberian Orchestra and Whitesnake as a backing vocalist as well as taking the lead vocal role on Michael Romeo's second solo album. He returns with his new, fourth, solo album, his first away from the Frontiers machine and it's allowed him some creative freedom as Follow The Blind Man, is harder, louder and better than anything he was involved with on Frontiers.
The influence of Michael Romeo and his time in Whitesnake has paid off here as the ballads come from the leather lunged yearning of Coverdale (The Great Divide) while the faster tracks range from hard rock to full on heavy metal, Dino not only having that incredible Russell Allen meets Jorn Lande voice he also produces, plays guitar and keys. A bit of a polymath then as he's joined by Ivan Keller on guitar, Luka Broderick on bass and Mario Lepoglavec on drums for what is a brilliant heavy rock album.
From the neo-classical influences of Reign Of Vultures and Died where the guitars are shreddy and the keys are huge, this is already miles better than his Frontiers works. Certainly much heavier with the focus on Symphony X and Masterplan with a bit of melodic rock coming on Animal Inside and the epic ballad of a title track. But mostly Follow The Blind Man is an absolute treat for fans of heavy rock with powerful vocals.
I was incredibly surprised how much I liked this album, but it seems the Frontiers divorce has definitely made Dino a much more bankable act than before, now he can really let loose with tracks such as Acid Rain which features growls as well as The Healer which is pure Whitesnake magic. Musclar, virtuoso heavy rock that's a hell of a restart. 9/10
Blodet - Death Mother (Church Road Records)
Primal and pervasive, Death Mother from Blodet is a spectral, evocative record that dwells in the mists of Swedish forests capturing a lingering sense on ennui wrapped up in cinematic repeated guitar lines. The rawness on offer is devestating, you can feel the emotion from the first moments of the title track until the last glimmering second of the Smashing Pumpkins-esque 93-22. Only five songs there's a 40 minutes run time which makes each tracks build into mighty peaks and crushing troughs, dark and light skilfully balanced.
The creation of these tracks came from paying tribute to their long time friend and guitarist Rickie who was involved in the writing process but shortly after passed after a battle with cancer, Death Mother is both their greiveing process and his epitaph and I couldn't think of one more fitting as you have to invest in this record, but it gets under your skin and into your subconscious.
Poetic lyricism taken from the human condition is put to climatic post-rock, shoegazing dreaminess and the influence of bands such as Swans, Chelsea Wolfe and Sonic Youth where the silence is just as important as the music, witnessed on tracks such as the sparse The Hour, while Lead Me Home is a driving, jangling cut that breaks up the esoteric expression. Blodet draw from grief to make music that will inhabit your psyche. 8/10
Sun King Ba - Goliath Worm (Self Released)
Instrumental sludge/stoner band Sun King Ba come from Chicago and are made up of Anthony Santoro (guitars) Calvin Schaller (drums) and Jeff Perlman (bass). Goliath Worm is a three track EP that doesn't spare the riffs, battering you with some thick dirty rhythms and fuzzy leads the Steve Albini engineered EP is full of the his fascination with the filthiest guitar sound around.
Just check out the distortion on Larvicide if you don't believe me. Goliath Worm is an antagonist in the world created by Sun King Ba, the slithering, grinding thump of a worm attacking the Sun King but the King overcoming and going on to destroy the Grub Acolyte and the larvae. Three tracks of dirty, instrumental sludge that comes from a conceptual place, and will burst out of your speakers. 7/10