Mullmuzzler - Mullmuzzler 2
Magna Carta - 2001
by Nigel
The guys from Dream Theater are prolific, to say the least. If the band isnt releasing an album, theyre getting ready to appear on a variety of albums with a whole slew of various members of the prog rock/metal community. Drummer Mike Portnoy is about to release his third album with TransAtlantic, and has already appeared on two albums alongside fellow DT cohorts John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess (with bass maestro Tony Levin) as Liquid Tension Experiment. John Myungs work with Platypus is worth checking out as well.
James Labrie has lent his vocal skills to a few releases, including Tyranny (from Shadow Gallery), Leonardo: The Absolute Man (which I havent heard yet) and what could be considered my least favourite album from one of the prog supergroups, Age of Impact from Explorers Club. The brainchild of Magellans Trent Gardner, it might not be much of a coincidence that my least favourite song from Mullmuzzler 2 is one that Gardner co-wrote, Afterlife. The fact that this is the first song on the album might have been enough to put me off the entire thing, but luckily the songs that follow it pick up the slack admirably.
Venice Burning and Confronting the Devil, written by Labrie with Carl Cadden-James and Gary Wehrcamp, definitely remind me of something their own band, Shadow Gallery, would come up with. The rest of the tracks are co-written by Matt Guillory of Dalis Dilemma, and apart from Afterlife (which is by no means a bad song) the entire album is a great piece of work. This is the second album from Mullmuzzler after 1999s Keep it to Yourself, and the band line-up (Mike Keneally on guitars, Mike Mangini on drums, Bryan Beller on bass and Guillory on keyboards, with Mike Borkosky and Gardner contributing additional guitars and keyboards respectively) is pretty much identical to that which appeared on the first release.
Ive never been a big fan of Labries vocals while hes certainly an excellent singer, I find that he tends to go a bit overboard with his warbling when some restraint would be the order of the day, especially live - but I cant help but be impressed with his work here. He sounds great, and seems to be much more at ease with his own project than he does with Dream Theater. This is an excellent album, well worth checking out if youre a Dream Theater fan, a progressive rock/metal fan, or just someone who wants something decent to listen to.
The Official Mullmuzzler Website
The Official James Labrie Website
Magna Carta - 2001
by Nigel
The guys from Dream Theater are prolific, to say the least. If the band isnt releasing an album, theyre getting ready to appear on a variety of albums with a whole slew of various members of the prog rock/metal community. Drummer Mike Portnoy is about to release his third album with TransAtlantic, and has already appeared on two albums alongside fellow DT cohorts John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess (with bass maestro Tony Levin) as Liquid Tension Experiment. John Myungs work with Platypus is worth checking out as well.
James Labrie has lent his vocal skills to a few releases, including Tyranny (from Shadow Gallery), Leonardo: The Absolute Man (which I havent heard yet) and what could be considered my least favourite album from one of the prog supergroups, Age of Impact from Explorers Club. The brainchild of Magellans Trent Gardner, it might not be much of a coincidence that my least favourite song from Mullmuzzler 2 is one that Gardner co-wrote, Afterlife. The fact that this is the first song on the album might have been enough to put me off the entire thing, but luckily the songs that follow it pick up the slack admirably.
Venice Burning and Confronting the Devil, written by Labrie with Carl Cadden-James and Gary Wehrcamp, definitely remind me of something their own band, Shadow Gallery, would come up with. The rest of the tracks are co-written by Matt Guillory of Dalis Dilemma, and apart from Afterlife (which is by no means a bad song) the entire album is a great piece of work. This is the second album from Mullmuzzler after 1999s Keep it to Yourself, and the band line-up (Mike Keneally on guitars, Mike Mangini on drums, Bryan Beller on bass and Guillory on keyboards, with Mike Borkosky and Gardner contributing additional guitars and keyboards respectively) is pretty much identical to that which appeared on the first release.
Ive never been a big fan of Labries vocals while hes certainly an excellent singer, I find that he tends to go a bit overboard with his warbling when some restraint would be the order of the day, especially live - but I cant help but be impressed with his work here. He sounds great, and seems to be much more at ease with his own project than he does with Dream Theater. This is an excellent album, well worth checking out if youre a Dream Theater fan, a progressive rock/metal fan, or just someone who wants something decent to listen to.
The Official Mullmuzzler Website
The Official James Labrie Website
