Bushman's Revenge — A Little Bit of Big Bonanza
Like on the classic but rightfully ridiculed instrumental rock albums of the 80's from Satriani and others, most of the songs here revolve around a simple, pentatonic riff with a straight-ahead sort of groove, rather uninteresting when considered on its own. The band then continues to jam on this riff while the guitarist extrapolates upon it with copious shredding, which in this particular instance turns out to produce the best parts of the record, due to the extraordinary band cohesion and musicianship on display here.
Helte Hermansen is an absolute monster on the guitar. His solos are melodic explosions in which each new phrase surpasses the last, and he is never afraid to use string noise and let the oddities of his instrument shine through. His guitar tone is wonderful, a perfect blend of chorus and gain. Gard Nilssen's drums are perfect, straightforward when they need to be but always on the verge of erupting in perfectly precise volleys of fills. At its most frenetic, his playing has a feverish business unknown to all but the most caffeinated rock.
Unfortunately, as wonderful as the band's cohesion is, there seems to be a lack of ideas, a lack of direction. Perhaps, as guests in the realm of rock, the band is afraid to innovate. The more upbeat numbers like "No More Dead Bodies for Daddy Tonight" (what an awful name) and "Iron Bloke" don't seem to communicate much emotion beyond "rocking out" or "Yeah! I'm playing music!". There are some fairly cerebral rhythmic permutations in the power chords, but a real uniqueness in groove or any other aspect is never achieved.
The inane song titles are a good example of the emotional shallowness of some of these tracks. The fact that they named the 4th track, a short clean piece, "John Lennon Was the Greatest Man Who Ever Lived", significantly cheapens it, and undermines the apparent sincerity of the repeated maudlin progression that forms the body of the track.
They also seem inhibited by their instrumental status. Self-sufficient instrumental rock music is certainly something that exists, but the fact is that these songs sound like they should already have vocals in them, almost as if the players intentionally left space in the music for a non-existent refrain. The right vocalist could give them the distinctive personality they desperately need, and flesh these songs out into something more multi-faceted and substantial. These same songs could easily rise far beyond the enjoyable but hardly intense music they current exist as.
It's not really surprising that the best moment on the record turns out to be "Tinnitus Love Poem" and to a lesser extent, the previous "4E73", with which it forms a kind of suite. These are the most freeform and openly emotional tracks on the album. There is no driving 4/4 beat, only thick, sweltering guitar melody, rich with Southern twang and all gentle, cinematic finality of Earth's newer records. Without the contraints of the simplistic beat, Nilssen is liberated as well: he unleashes an expressive storm of snare rolls which to my hears is his most passionate moment on the album.
Ultimately, this record sounds like what it is: accomplished jazz musicians attempting an established subgenre of rock in a precise, researched manner. There are many tasty bits of playing, but only one truly great composition, and nothing I haven't heard from countless other jam bands. Specific moments occur in which this group transcends the calculated, polished manner with which they approach this style, mostly during the improvisatory shred sections. I'd recommend this album only to accomplished musicians or die hard fans of jam rock looking for some good bluesy solos