Don Caballero
American Don

I know, progressive is a bit reductive for the album (and the band) in question, which for the less informed are considered among the godfathers of the so-called math-rock, but I don't think it's worth getting worked up over it.

We are in the presence of the least convoluted album of the American trio (after the departure of Banfield replaced on bass by Eric Emm): the instrumental textures are decidedly less intricate, Fitzgerald’s drumming is decidedly less "fluvial" (if you’ll allow me the term) than usual, the tracks decidedly more homogeneous and less neurotic, but I must say that this album is truly very, very beautiful. I am not able to compare it to "What Burns Never Returns" (a monumental album), they are too different works, so one cannot say "better-worse", but simply "beautiful".

It starts screeching with "Fire Back About Your New Baby's Sex", the track closest to the discussion of previous works but also the most distant from the rest of the album. A little organ with some bells gently introduces us to the jazz of Peter Criss ("Peter Criss Jazz"), a song with stretched-out sounds and rhythms for about two and a half minutes, until an ascending climax of "guitar noodling" introduces the soul of the track, which develops on a jazz -unconventional though- progressively increasing in speed. The third track flows pleasantly, but decidedly flat, at times reminiscent of the past, worthily revisited. A brief "You Drink A Lot Of Coffee For A Teenager" and the group almost returns to breaking as they used to, and indeed it almost seems as if the production is different for this song... which after a minute and 20 settles back to the standard of the album.

A clean guitar with decidedly high gain and the musician clearly in the grip of a nervous breakdown introduces the wonderful "Ones All Over The Place", a true gem for atmosphere and inspiration. The rest of the CD flows, without particular highlights, in full Don Caballero style.

From Manowar you expect furry loincloths, from Bongzilla a smoky album, from Don Caballero you expect “American Don.”