Plankton
"Plankton"
Grooveyard Records
I'll let you in on a little secret. Actually, it's not anything you don't already know if you read my page. The skinny is, Ray ain't perfect. Now that this newsflash is over, I'll tell you why it comes up under the PLANKTON heading. Back last update, when I reviewed this Swedish band's debut disc, I gave it some pretty positive ink, but not enough to really explain it thoroughly, nor to give y'all anywhere near the lowdown on just how killer they are. So, after plenty more listens, I'm going to do something else Ray has been known to do...expound a bit! When Joe R sent me this CD, he was singing it's praises way-loudly. Now, I've known the Grooveyard Dawg for years & have known his tastes to be impeccable, but I was wondering how an all-instrumental disc was going to stack up. The truth is, there have been some records sans vox that have rocked my world, but few & far between. For instance, Return To Forever's "Romantic Warrior" & Mahavishnu's "Birds Of Fire" are 2 biggies, but then again, these are jazz fusion. When I hear about instrumental guitar rock, especially these days, my first reaction is usually to cringe, hold my ears & expect something unfortunate like Satriani or Vai. In other words, I'm waiting for a drum machine running in 4-minute intervals with a Julliard-schooled-by-the-numbers-scale-roller yawning his way thru boring TV-theme-sounding drivel. Imagine, then, my surprise & delight when I loaded up the PLANKTON disc & heard something entirely different! Far from Shrapnel-shredding, names like Trower, Marino, Roth, Wishbone Ash, The Allmans, etc. are more the order of the day here, but there's way more to it than that... PLANKTON are a 5-piece band composed of: Christian Neppenstrom - guitars, Emil Fredholm - guitars, Tomas Thorberg - bass, Sebastian Sippola - drums, Lars Normalm - percussion (having a separate percussion player is a pretty cool thing, don't you think?!). On this album, their debut, they have concocted 11 original songs, plus add 1 cover version, that merge to complete a masterpiece. It's a blockbuster not only because of the wonderfully intuitive, impassioned & downright kick-ass playing, but even more importantly, the care & love obviously put into the writing of the songs. That's a point I want to really bring across hard in this review, & I can't emphasize it enough. While the 11 trax that Christian & Emil have written here are strictly instrumental, they are some of the very best SONGS of the year, rivaling the craftsmanship & memorability of anything out there, including any with lyrics! I know that may sound hard to believe, but brothers & sisters, I kid you not. Let me just pick a track like "Elephantman," for example. Sure, there's a ton & a half of '70's style riffsmanship here, but a couple things stand out immediately. First off, the sound, baby! Unlike other so-called "guitar" albums that are dragged into mediocrity by that over-produced '90's studio gloss, this is ALIVE! Listen to the warm, thick Strat tones as Christian & Emil lay down a lush, creamy Fender heaviness that recalls the days of "Bridge Of Sighs." Secondly, & even more importantly, you are being graced with melodies that will be with you tomorrow, the next day & the day after that. I am so pleased to say that this is not an axe exercise, but a SONG! God, I love that! Another one of my faves is the swinging "Jorm," which calls to mind one of the coolest guitar bands ever, Electric Sun & legendary Strat master, Uli Roth on the "Earthquake" album. That is so cool, as the irresistable blues-groove sears, with crying leads that would melt the most polar of nights.
I could go on like this in regard to each song on "Plankton," and while I won't do that (in order to let you have some surprises when you get it), that's the real indicator of what a great album is. Still, I will add a couple other details that I love. One is the no-holds-barred harmonica on "Zeitgeist." Who does this anymore?! It's incredible how it brings back such a '70's vibe, referencing things like Cactus etc., and yet keeps a forward-moving, vital edge. Also, the cover of jazz legend Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" is a landmark. For a band to lend such a respectful yet innovative interpretation to a piece of music of this stature is a sign of maturity, confidence &, most importantly, enjoyment of what they do.
And, I think that brings me (nice segue, Ray...hey, you know you're in the middle of a serious-ass review when somebody uses the word "segue!") to the final point I wanted to make about this album. For a rock record that is as musically deep, sonorous & moving, it is one that has a dramatically positive feel. I don't know how else to describe what I mean, it is not that "Plankton" sounds "happy" in some kind of silly way, no, not at all. To use a comparison, I find the upward-soaring feeling I get when listening to it comparable to (and here comes a name we've seen before) some of the Electric Sun stuff. It's the fact that you have a record that is "heavy" and yet, at the same time, uplifting. That is not only unusual, it is brilliant.
All in all, there's not a whole lot more I can say about the debut by PLANKTON without sounding like a fan, frothing at the mouth. This is a singularly great effort and anybody, I mean ANYBODY reading this page should immediately get themselves a copy. Mandatory.
---Ray Dorsey
Chaos Realm - 2002