MAN OF RUST

What a year 2016 has been! It's been such a tragic one because of all the high-profile musicians and actors who have left us or, in the case of the cancer victims, been taken from us. Others of less renown have also slipped away. However, the universe requires balance, and while we've been saddened by so many losses, I have been watching as musicians in my circle of friends and acquaintances have been enjoying a burst of success this year. One such artist is Oliver Rüsing and his band KariBow.

Oliver first formed KariBow as a six-piece band somewhere near the end of 1996, but as other obligations pressed upon the lives of each member the band dissolved. Oliver himself went on to be an art professor and word is that he was also a drum teacher. But Oliver has a gift for writing songs and composing and playing music. KariBow became a personal project for which, if I have this correctly, he wrote, composed, played all instruments (guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums), recorded, and produced all on his own. A steady succession of albums followed over the years, released in small numbers and not for a broader market beyond friends and a small interested fan base.

That began to change in 2011 with the release of "Man of Rust". His very wise and perceptive wife told him to stop making albums for the shelves and to get his music out there. Oliver submitted the album to the German Rock & Pop Musicians' Association (DRMV) and it was chosen for the award of best arrangement. Three years later, he released "Addicted" and it too won the same award, this time for best progressive band. That led to Oliver's most ambitious project yet, the phenomenal "Holophinium", a full album of progressive melodic rock with a band and a cast of stellar guests including Sean Timmins, Colin Tench, and Michael Saddler of Saga. A second disc featuring the multipart 37-minute track "Letters from the White Room" was part of the package. KariBow toured with Saga and have since played some festivals in Germany as well. With KariBow's fan base suddenly growing, an interest developed in earlier albums (at the time of the release of "Holophinium", only "Addicted" was also available on CD and "Man of Rust" was a download only). Oliver, fresh of the tour with Saga, took a brief holiday and then jumped back into the studio. The result is a re-release of "Man of Rust", remixed and remastered, with three extra studio tracks not included on the original version..

In an interview, Oliver stated that he weighed heavily the choices of simply remastering the album and re-recording the songs. A friend encouraged him to keep the originals, but Oliver felt some parts could be improved upon. So he decided to redo some parts but leave the rest and just remix the album. The new version of "Man of Rust" was released in October.

As to be expected from a KariBow album, there's a generous offering of heavy, melodic rock with many tracks hiding underlying complexities as well as a few more obvious progressive (i.e. longer an more complex) numbers. Oliver excels at writing beautiful catchy melodies, and songs like "Ceraneo", "The Big Y", and "Ceremony" are outstanding examples of his talent. The title track is probably the most complex song on the album moving through different changes to the music, sometimes quick and challenging, other times soothing or passionate. As with "Addicted", much of the album is beautiful, heavy melodic rock. Oliver doesn't try to make KariBow a progressive rock band; however, he's a creative person (he does all the album artwork himself, by the way) and when a song grows into something more than a four-minute melodic masterpiece, Oliver permits his muse to dictate the course.

Now in possession of all three KariBow CDs that are currently available, I was struck the other day with what may seem like a far-fetched comparison. Deep Purple's first two albums were similar in style though each still being distinct enough from one another. Their third, self-titled album was to me, farther reaching into prog territory. I feel "Man of Rust" and "Addicted" also share a commonality and "Holophinium" is the album that sounds more like a full-blown modern "prog" album. Whatever the case may be, I recommend all three albums to anyone who enjoys deep and rich melodic rock with a heavy guitar side and that also goes without restraint into more musically complex territory which earns KariBow a place in the progressive rock world.