Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Niacin
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release: 2013
Running time: 73:34
Rating: 4/5
Niacin, the hard-hitting power jazz rock fusion trio, are back eight years after their last studio effort, »Organik« (2005). With a new studio record. Simply and bluntly titled. One word that says it all. »Krush«. And it’s true. Niacin haven’t lost one iota of their crushing power or the signature musical traits their previous studio albums left behind. And that’s the first and most important answer to the question of what to expect from the band, a question that came up the moment the new album »Krush« was announced, their first for Prosthetic Records, a label otherwise steeped in metal waters.
Niacin remain loaded with extreme playing. It’s the evolution of an extremely effective combination of sonic speed and control, reaching such proportions that until you hear the record, it’s hard to believe what can be squeezed out of the instruments in this tight and uniquely effective alliance of Hammond B3 organ, drums and bass guitar. That chemistry between the three of them counts as an exceptional musical provocation on »Krush« too, and all three musicians still feel right at home in it. Sadly, though, they don’t have much time to give an institution like Niacin the attention it deserves. The first casualty is, of course, Billy Sheehan. He’s always up to his neck in work. There’s the reactivated Mr. Big, his solo career (he put out two solo albums in the meantime), the Devil’s Slingshot project, a spot in Steve Vai’s backing band, and now the »deadly super rock« combo with Portnoy and Kotzen called The Winery Dogs.
The trio goes all in once again with this outstanding musical mix that knows no artistic restraint. It feels like a live jam in the studio. A brilliant concert of pure-blooded, free-spinning improvisation that is first and foremost a fusion of jazz and rock. Those chunky Hammond sounds, especially the chord work, often conjure up the sentiment of the old Purple school (the intro to Drifting), but once Novello’s soloing joins in, there’s a dash of ELP »rowdiness« (Car Crash Red) too, especially from the era of the album »Brain Sallad Surgery«. A pinch of blues sneaks into all this unbridled madness, backed here and there by Hammond melody lines. The album certainly doesn’t hide its dabbling in funk elements either (Cold Fusion).
Not for a second does the trio’s dynamite fuse stop burning in the focus of the musical vision championed by the fortress that is NIacin. When one of the three launches into a solo, the other two follow like they’re in a trance, and it’s clear these artists are so damn experienced, routined and loaded with road mileage, and know each other so well, that they can nail a chosen motif on the first try. That’s the kind of thing that belongs straight on record. In this case, on CD. Even if they haven’t talked the motif over beforehand. Or maybe they have, but leave things in some kind of agreement that’s full of open options. That means they settle on the basic framework, but can’t pin down exactly which way the song will develop. That’s the fascinating character of progressive rock. And it’s also the most attractive part of the whole musical story of Niacin. A completely spontaneous and unpredictable course of events, a unique musical expression that only this trio on the planet is capable of delivering.
It’s clear that in such a setting Novello’s Hammond B3 is the main melody generator, but you can’t possibly overlook the contributions of Chambers and Sheehan, who leave an equally strong mark on the album. Their playing is the same astonishing mix of exceptional flexibility and ultra-reactive responsiveness to whatever situation a given figure of the chosen motif throws at them. They don’t stand still for a second, and their work is an effective surrender to full-blooded improvisation that they can’t predict in advance themselves. At this point the trio simply lets itself go with the flow of energy, which operates on a higher plane yet stays within »legible« notes. So there’s no talk here of random avant-garde musical tomfoolery.
The first problem with a record running over 73 minutes is that the elements start to repeat, and you need real nerves of steel to get through it from the first second to the last. The guys unleash such a tonnage of note sequences that at many points on the album they actually replicate themselves in their improvisations a bit too often. The second problem is the limited palette of sonic colors. We have to remember that Niacin have only three instruments (Novello does occasionally pick up a piano and a synthesizer). Sheehan mostly uses his typical (characteristic) bass tone, which he doesn’t deviate from by an inch and which you recognize instantly. Chambers, meanwhile, is one way or another fixed to an instrument that essentially dictates only rhythm. So this limitation of the sound palette that the trio can generate, in an otherwise tremendously fascinating new studio showing, adds to the feeling of oversaturation and self-replication. In this case, replication of an already used palette of sound coloring, which in Niacin’s case is simply limited.
Fans of unbridled, exploratory progressive »hard-hitting-ness«, jazz, and lovers of the old school of seventies jazz rock fusion in general, led by the musical legacy of bands like Mahavishnu Orcherstra, Weather Report and of course Return to Forever, plus the good old »electric« Miles Davis (»In A Slient Way« / »Bitches Brew« era), will find plenty of reasons on this album for »personal satisfaction and voluptuous excitement«. And if all you want is the carefree freedom of expression in the art called music, know that this album will treat you honestly well. It’s naked, stripped down, authentic, dizzyingly fun, passionately ruthless in its playing and therefore boundlessly energetic. In that sense it certainly knows no rock with a time limit, which is why we can declare »Krush« one of the best instrumental albums to come out this year.
Lineup
John Novello – Hammond B3, keyboards
Billy Sheehan – bass guitar
Dennis Chambers – drums
Production
Niacin
Tracklist
1. Krush (4:19)
2. Tone Wheels (4:39)
3. Stormy Sunday (6:35)
4. Low Art (4:24)
5. Car Crash Red (4:12)
6. Electrocity (4:20)
7. Cold Fusion (6:41)
8. Majestic Dance (4:48)
9. Prelude & Funky Opus (7:04)
10. The Gnarly Shuffle (4:04)
11. Drifting (7:28)
12. Sly Voltage (4:52)
13. That’s the One! (3:52)
14. Triple Strength (6:05)
