LINGUA FRANCA

I am a big fan of all of the musiscians who make up this Jazz Rock supergroup and i had heard and enjoyed "Seven Ways Till Sunday". Therefore this was a blind purchase for me. You would think that the Djent guitar of Abasi and Reyes, combined with the more traditional Fusion style of Terrazas Sax would combine to create something aweinspiring, but the results are rather mediocre. Most of the songs start with a strong riff, only to peter out into endless tiresome noodling. I usually do not mind that TOO much but when the themes and riffs are significantly less interesting than those that these men regulary play in their own bands it becomes a problem.

This record also seems to be Terrazas show. The Djent solos employed by Reyes and Abasi have always been rather anonymous, but when nearly 90% of what you hear is Drums and Sax you start to wonder if they where simply hired to serve as part of the rythm section. Speaking of a rythm section, this band could have really benefitted from a good Bassist and Keyboardist. The bass-less soundscape makes everything sound very thin and cold, just like it did on Animals As Leaders debut album, only in that case it worked to that albums favor. When your intent is presumably to start a more traditional Jazz Rock group then im afraid that it doesnt cut it.

I think that this band has a lot of potential though, and i hope that we get to hear more of them in the future. On paper, it really is a dream supergroup come true.