Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Maillard, Brian
Label: CD Baby
Release: 2014
Length: 44:55
Rating: 4/5
Brian Maillard may be a lesser-known name in the musical universe, and yet a few of you curious music fans, especially those who value the kind of virtuosity that the instrumental magic of so-called guitar rock develops with its creative sweep, will have come across this guitarist. If nothing else, on 06/07/2007, when he opened for Dream Theater in Zagreb as a member of Dominici. On that tour, Dream Theater were presenting their then-current studio album »Theory in Chaos« (2007).
Brian Maillard is a classically trained, academically schooled musician. He’s a French-speaking Swiss from the town of Delémont. His brother Yan is a drummer, also armed to the teeth with unsuspected virtuosity, as his collaborations with prominent names in the music world prove. The Maillard brothers also founded the progressive metal band SolidVision and had already put out two studio albums before joining Dominici – the band led by former member and original Dream Theater singer Charlie Dominici.
Brian Maillard’s new album, his second solo studio outing overall, titled »Reincarnation«, is once again entirely instrumental. Brian played all the guitars himself, added most of the bass lines and all the keyboards, while his brother Yan handles nearly all the drums, except on the track Bulldog Ants, where Yan is joined behind the kit by none other than Marco Minnemann. Speaking of one of the names from the »totally unhinged« trio The Aristocrats , we can’t skip the outstanding bassist Bryan Beller either, who shows up as a special guest on bass on this album too, in the track Another Life. Besides Beller, a couple of lesser-known names guest on bass here: Lorenzo Feliciati on the album’s title track and Max Gelsi on Evergreen.
Brian Maillard is a musician who isn’t about to spark a revolution in the world of guitar rock. He sticks firmly to melody. Melody and the musicality of the material he delivers to your ears are his starting points, and he subordinates everything to them. That’s why every track on this release holds together tightly, and Brian doesn’t allow himself any eccentric outbursts where the songs, through some potential musical experiment, would “fall apart” in their motifs and lead to the fragmentation of the compositions. You can easily call »Reincarnation« a progressive metal album where Brian Maillard’s guitar language takes over the role of the vocals. His playing is noticeably reminiscent of John Petrucci (Dream Theater), so more than once the album will throw you into the feeling of a public rehearsal of an instrumental Dream Theater jam, while the arrangements also draw parallels with Symphony X. as on the instrumental record by Dram Theater, and Siymphony X too. Melodically crafted passages that bring moments of »solo scatteredness« back into the compact form of the compositions carry a touch of Satriani’s sophistication, while the influences of Steve Morse , and Steve Vai (Carnivorous Turtle) as well, creep into the guitar playing. With all that said, there’s no doubt that Brian Maillard delivers the real musical manna even for more demanding musical gourmets. The closing track Hallelujah, a cover of Cohen’s original, could easily grace the soundtrack of any film you like. Despite the many covers of this song the music world has seen over the years, Brian’s version is very interesting, especially because of the modulations that drive a gradual swell of atmosphere from the start to the end of the track, which wraps up the album with a solemn crescendo. It’s almost needless to add that symphonic elements , as well as neoclassical approaches, are a mandatory ingredient of Maillard’s guitar antics on this album.
Although Maillard’s »Reincarnation« doesn’t deliver anything you haven’t heard before, it blends elements from the mastery of several artists who changed the world of rock forever, and does so extremely tastefully. Maillard has deftly fused all these ingredients into a melodically powerful, impressive and accessible conglomerate, contrastingly weighted with a rich seasoning of top-notch virtuosity. The content is an appealing repackaging of familiar moves, of progressively metallized and symphonically embellished guitar rock. I’d recommend that more demanding listeners and music gourmets give the album a bit of their attention, because it will surely reward them gratefully in return.
Lineup
Brian Maillard – guitar, bass, keyboards
Yan Maillard – drums
Marco Minnemann – drums
Bryan Beller – bass
Max Gelsi – bass
Lorenzo Feliciati – bass
Production
Brian Maillard
Tracklist
1. Debut De La Fin
2. The Pentagon
3. The Irish Times
4. Another Life
5. Evergreen
6. Carnivorus Turtle
7. Theory of Relativity
8. Reincarnation
9. Bulldog Ants
10. Hallelujah
