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Stick Men: Prog Noir
ByRespectively, the musicians reside in the nucleus of modern era progressive rock initiatives on a global basis; therefore, extensive biographical narratives are beyond the scope of this article. And of course, Levin is a fabled session artist. It would be safe to say that the distinct approach, flavor and supreme technical acumen Stick Men bring to the forefront would not be easily achievable with novices. Here, Levin and Reuter fill out an expansive soundstage with nifty contrapuntal maneuvers and guerrilla bass expositions while extending the band's reach with affable vocals.
From a soloing perspective, the Stick Men embed sustain driven leads with crunching licks atop Mastelotto's slamming backbeats and odd-metered progressions. However, the trio integrates memorable choruses into the grand schema and straight-four punk-ish overtones on "The Tempest." But they implement nimble plucking maneuvers, leading to a grungy opus with distortion-laced backlashes and Reuter's trippy scientific iterations on the good-natured, "Plutonium."
" Schattenhaft" and "Trey's Continuum" are out of the Crimson school as Reuter institutes Robert Fripp-like steel shredding leads with the Touch Guitar methodology, yet "A Rose In The Sand / Requiem" is a full-bodied, unearthly soundscape. And they close it out with a tuneful hook on the up-tempo ballad, "Never The Same."
The trio extends its reach with a bit of a metamorphosis, partly due to the addition of vocals and quirky spoken word passages, lending to a series of works that are framed less on structured jam-based sequencesalthough they often bust it wide open and more on song-oriented platforms. It's possibly the band's finest outing to date.
Track Listing
Prog Noir; Mantra; Plutonium; The Tempest; Schattenhaft; A Rose In The Sand / Requiem; Leonardo; Trey’s Continuum; Embracing The Sun; Never The Same.
Personnel
Stick Men
band / ensemble / orchestraTony Levin: Stick and voice; Markus Reuter: U8 and AU8 Touch Guitars; Pat Mastelotto: drums and percussion.
Album information
Title: Prog Noir | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Unsung Records
Comments
About Stick Men
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
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