DEEP

This third studio album by Niacin continues the band's philosophy in making an album: it revolves around the music and technical skills to deliver the music itself. Sometimes their composition is less-melodic or even seems like a jam-session music. But if you enjoy improvisations and technical delivery, this album would fulfill your requirements. This album combines technical deliveries of bass guitar played dynamically like walking fingers by Billy Seehan, great Hammond organ solo / improvisations by John Novello, augmented with a solid drum work by Dennis Chambers. As you may expect, this is almost all instrumental album except track no. 12.

There were two major reasons on why I purchased this CD: 1. I like Billy Seehan's bass playing - I also have his solo album "Compression", 2. I like Hammond organ sounds even though I have never heard who John Novello was. In addition to that there was also another reason: track no. 12 "Things Ain't Like They Used To Be" (7:25) features Glenn Hughes (ex Trapeze, Deep Purple) on vocal. I love Glenn Hughes vocal quality during his tenure with Trapeze and Deep Purple also as solo artist. His solo album "Blues" is a true killer man! In this album he sings wonderfully in the blues-based song with powerful high register notes. Glenn Hughes rules!

Overall, I would say that this album is really good for those of you who enjoy music- oriented album with excellent musicianship. So, don't expect beautiful melody here even though the track with vocal part (track 12) posses a stirring melodic music. Yes, I have to admit that the musicianship of the band members in this album is really top notch! Keep on proggin' ..!

Progressively yours, GW

Niacin is a trio of first rate musicians made up of a keyboardist (organ and piano), bassist and percussionist. Almost every song is instrumental, but there is one exception on this album - track 12 has guest vocalist Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and guest guitarist Steve Lukather from Toto. The rest of the album is made up of amazing playing and all 3 band regulars are hugely talented. The bass runs rival Geddy Lee, the keyboard solos are right up there with Keith Emerson and the percussion rivals any drummer you can come with including Bill Bruford and Carl Palmer. The music can leave your heart pounding when you listen to the technicality going on here. The album is brimming with outstanding solos throughout. There is a lot of jamming going on around the melodies that are apparent on each track. This is amazing listening, for sure and it is definitely progressive jazz/rock fusion, probably relying on the rock side more than the jazz side, but don't worry if you love improvisation because it is all throughout this album.

The main issue I have with it, is that there is not a lot of variety. This would have easily been a 5 star album if there was more variety throughout the album, but as it is, most of the tracks are at the same whirlwind tempo and if you are not paying attention, the tracks seem to meld together. There is an early variation early on the album at the beginning of track 2 with an amazing slow tempo piano solo, but it gets interrupted about halfway through by a return to the same sound evident throughout the album. Another standout here is "Panic Button" which has a bass run that sounds like someone did hit the panic button and the bass is in full-fledged panic mode. With many listens, the melodies start to stand out more, but people looking for variety won't find much of that here. You will find a lot of jamming and top notch musicianship however. But, knowing what the instrumental lineup is, I think you can pretty much imagine how this is going to sound. Organ, bass, drums....quite basic lineup, but every player here is amazing.

This album is probably better in smaller doses because the formulaic playing starts to wear out after about 4 tracks, so 4 tracks at a time is about the recommended dosage for your daily intake of Niacin. So, 4 stars which are awarded because of the musicianship, but know that too much of a good thing can be "too much of a good thing".