Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Aristocrats, The
Label: Boing!
Release: 2015
Length: 58:00
Rating: 4.5/5
The international supergroup The Aristocrasts, made up of three brilliantly bonkers supervirtuosos, namely English guitar maniac Guthrie Govan (Steven Wilson, ex-Asia, GPS), American bass-slinging firebrand Bryan Beller (Dethklok, Steve Vai, Dweezil Zappa) and German drum overlord Marco Minnemann (Steven Wilson, Joe Satriani, The Mute Gods), is back with its third studio outing, »Tres Cabaleros«. On the cover, a parody of a typical online video game, and on the track »Smuggler S Corridor« too, they’ve morphed into Mexican street musicians.
Always in top form for unpredictable improvisational feats and a heaping helping of tomfoolery, The Aristocrats already wowed plenty of music gourmets on their previous two studio records, »The Aristocrats« (2011) and »Culture Clash« (2013), with their one-of-a-kind blend of instrumental rock, jazz fusion, progressive rock, heavy metal, avant-garde and comic absurdity. »Tres Caballeros« is no different, which means the new album, run by the genius trio, is once again packed with all kinds of instrumental elements that, together with the top-notch production, will please fans of supersonic jazz fusion in the vein of Return to Forever/The Mahavishnu Orchestra, worshippers of Dream Theater-level technical perfection, lovers of guitar shredding à la Steve Vai/Joe Satriani, devotees of the unpredictable prog-rock experimentalism typical of King Crimson/UK, and fans of the mischievous absurdity once cultivated by the immortal Frank Zappa, one of The Aristocrats’ main musical role models.
All this complexity, eclecticism and polish, plus the knack for adapting to wildly different instrumental styles, has won these three bouncy grandmasters of their instruments a ton of support from all those music connoisseurs who, on top of high technical specs, expect from virtuosos a hefty gallon of lucidity, spontaneity and wit. And that, in perfect harmony between all three of them, oozes from every pore of The Aristocrats’ compositional genius. On every single composition you can feel the stamp of the individual musician, and as a rule the wildest ideas are the ones that came from Marco Minnemann.
Guitar virtuosos as complex as Govan are very rare in this world, since hardly anyone can combine so many different techniques this successfully while also blending ferocity and subtlety, proving that even guitar shredding can sound ear-friendly when it’s played by a musician who cares about soul and personal character as much as technique. Minnemann is a multi-instrumentalist and one of the most complex musicians of our time, but drums are his primary instrument, and there he’s simply unstoppable in his daredevil acrobatics and displays of extraordinary rhythmic eclecticism. Beller’s approach to the bass is incredibly penetrating and melodic at the same time, which makes it perfect for an extremely wide range of genres, even though you can tell the master comes from the jazz school.
Every composition on »Tres Caballeros« is a completely different adventure from the next, starting with the opening supersonic catalyst »Stupid 7«, where The Aristocrats show off their heavy metal side with fired-up guitar passages, apocalyptic drum fills and furious bass lines, yet despite the track’s relatively short length there’s still plenty of room for cheeky and, above all, witty improvising. The opening bars of the slick jazz fusion experiment »Jack S Back« at times sound like some absurd rhythmic and guitar parody of the life and work of Al Di Meola.
On »Tres Caballeros« The Aristocrats have obviously decided that the song titles will parody the mentality and music scene of the American Midwest, rednecks and Mexican smugglers, so titles like the totally wound-up »Texas Crazypants«, where Govan’s guitar at times sounds like an irritated wasp while a police siren wails in the background, the prog-blues-rock hybrid »Zz Top« and the country burlesque »The Kentucky Meat Shower« come as no surprise. The latter, with its extremely fluid genre-hopping and totally ‘disconnected’ guitar soloing, is some of the craziest stuff they’ve made so far.
The Aristocrats have shown their fondness for pigs on past records, and this time they’ve dedicated a jazz fusion treat to them, »Pig S Day Off«, one of the most interesting moments on the whole album, which, thanks to the guitar approach and plenty of absurd moments, sounds like something out of Frank Zappa’s treasure chest, specifically from the era of »Waka/Jawaka« (1972) and »The Grand Wazoo« (1972). All that’s missing is a deranged horn section.
The previously mentioned »Smuggler S Corridor«, a perfect musical picture of the album cover, eerily evokes with its Latin motif the Mexican bandit scenes you usually see in (stereotypical) American movies à la ‘Desperado’ or some ‘cowboy’ theme as played by Ennio Morricone. »Pressure Relief« is again a bit more subtle, a jazz fusion experiment on which The Aristocrats prove once more that every now and then, between the crazy improvising and rhythmic acrobatics, they know how to ‘hit the brakes’ and build some very pleasant melodies. For the grand finale the slick trio serves up the more than eleven-minute »Through The Flower«, which flies by unbelievably fast thanks mostly to intelligent, subtle and at the same time wickedly witty improvisations and a heaping dose of rhythmic unpredictability, making it a total masterpiece of virtuosic perfectionism.
The Aristocrats are running at full instrumental throttle on »Tres Caballeros«, which means Messrs. Govan, Beller and Minnemann dazzle at every turn with their improvisational wildness, rhythmic spontaneity, compositional lucidity and mischievous humor. The trio of grandmasters keeps surprising with crazy instrumental ideas, and it’s still hard to believe they came together by pure chance in 2010, when they first played together, because most people listening would assume they’d been playing together for at least fifteen years. »Tres Caballeros« is without a doubt one of the instrumental peaks of progressive rock in 2015, and everyone who swears by the best and most sought-after music virtuosos on the planet will surely enjoy it without limits.
Lineup
Guthrie Govan – guitar
Bryan Beller – bass
Marco Minnemann – drums
Production
The Aristocrats
Track list
1. Stupid 7
2. Jack’s Back
3. Texas Crazypants
4. ZZ Top
5. Pig’s Day Off
6. Smuggler’s Corridor
7. Pressure Relief
8. The Kentucky Meat Shower
9. Through the Flower
