Published on Sep 10, 2001
I like Dream Theater – I’ve got all the albums, a couple
singles, and everything put out on solo (except all those
miscellaneous Jordan Ruddess albums.) I even have Winter Rose, that
little known James La Brie vehicle from the 80’s.
I’ll be honest here – I hated
Keep It To Yourself, the first album from LaBrie’s latest
side project Mullmuzzler. I found it to be an uninspired attempt at
sounding like corporate rock. It had some of my favorite musicians
– Mike Mangini, Mike Keneally, and LaBrie, but it didn’t work. This
time around they’ve added another guitar player – and though I love
Keneally to death, I have to admit that I can never be sure when
it’s him and when it’s Mike Borkosky.
This album, however, is not exactly the same as the predecessor.
We get unusual vocal lines, not just bellowing, as is evident from
the leading track, the oddly-phrased “Afterlife.” LaBrie spreads
his vocals wings, which in his case doesn’t mean the standardly
amazing delivery, but rather a set of lines that interest us in
more than a “Wow, a rock vocalist who can sing!” The underlying
music (is that a violin?) fits nicely with the descending intensity
toward the end.
“Venice Burning” is a standout track, if a bit Dream
Theater-esque at times. The guitar is very Petrucci-ian – lots of
scales, up and down. The chorus, too, is reminiscient of Dream
Theater, but less-obviously. That’s not to say that it’s
derivative; it’s just reminiscient – as are the descending,
atmospheric keyboards. These are all forgivable sins, because we
find LaBrie to be doing things with his voice that he doesn’t
during Dream Theater. (Plus, some funk-guitar gets tossed in
occasionally.)
It’s almost difficult to tell when “Venice Burning” ends and
“Confronting The Devil” begins, which is a bit indicative of the
track as a whole. The music pretty much sounds the same as the
previous track; it’s up in the air which is “better,” although it’s
worth nothing that “Confronting The Devil” does drop in some
accoustic guitar at places that liven up the experience.
Lots of other interesting things are tossed in, but because this
is, essentially, a
vocalist’s album, they end up sounding more like samples
than like musical ideas of their own, which is unfortunate. The
up-tempo “Falling” is a stand-out track. It revolves around an
elaborately orchestrated, yet altogether
simple guitar melody that repeats itself through out. It’s a
raw song, emotionally, with LaBrie almost whispering the verses. I
like it.
“Stranger” is a bit ominous at the outset, and then returns us
to familiar territory. It harkens back, very strongly, to
Awake-era Dream Theater, in the style of the guitar solo,
the sound of the keys, the places where you just
know Kevin Moore would have slipped in samples, and numerous
other aspects. If not for the Spanish-sounding guitar and vocal
effects, it would have fit right in just after “Scarred.”
“A Simple Man” is another emotionally honest appeal, with only a
few shortcomings. I know it’s important to the feeling they wanted,
but I don’t care for the deep-bass lines during every verse. “Save
Me” has a hook-y chorus, but more of the Dream Theater-sounding
music. The keys are very much similar to that “Other Band” LaBrie
works with.
Occasionally, vocalists on solo albums allow in songs that are
blatant attempts at syrupy emotional goo (cough – Steve Perry –
cough). LaBrie and crew walk this line a few times, but manage to
avoid it for the most part, although they come close with
“Believe,” a song that faintly reminds me of Guster. “Listening” is
another slower, less Metal-ish song with some heavy, oppressive
drum sounds – which all combine to create a rich atmosphere. The
album is rounded out with “Tell Me,” which seems like another long
song based around a riff or two and expanded. It’s a very
interesting song, and even musically well-structured, but while the
music speaks to me, the vocals do not.
Ok, I’ll be honest. I like
Mullmuzzler 2, but I’m not sure why. It sounds like Dream
Theater, pure and simple. There is more musical variance, yes, but
it sounds forced, as though there was a great big shadow they
wanted to avoid. Only two songs really show that Mullmuzzler can
completely escape from Dream Theater – “Falling” and “Believe” are
very far from their counterparts on
Falling Into Infinityand
Awake.
I find it interesting that Mangini, Keneally and Beller aren’t
mentioned when LaBrie discusses the composition phase on his
website – the remainder of the artists are all staples of the Magna
Carta catalog; Trent Gardner, Matt Guillory and others have been
repeatedly criticized for “ripping off” Dream Theater. Magna Carta,
in general, has been (wrongly) accused of pumping out DT clones.
This album does not help that case at all. It’s a bit repetitive in
places, it’s heavily influenced by only a couple styles, and while
he is more creative here than elsewhere, LaBrie’s vocals are very
much what we’ve come to expect. At the risk of this review turning
into a novel, I think perhaps LaBrie has been wrongfully
stereotyped, and while he tries to break out of it every now and
then – with this album, for instance – he doesn’t quite know
how.