Niacin
Live! Blood, Sweat And Beers

THE REVIEW

The Niacin are a trio consisting of:

Billy Sheehan on bass

John Novello on keyboards

Dennis Chambers on drums

Having said that, let's get into the details. The trio has a primarily Fusion setup with Jazz and Progrock nuances... And that's already intriguing! Now, I've never liked analyzing an album in every detail because I believe music should be experienced as a whole, especially this type of music. Besides being exhausting, I think approaching this live track by track is pointless because it doesn't give proper weight to the creativity and expressiveness of this trio!

Anyway, the salient features of this trio are the improvisational skills which are quite varied. They range from highly technical moments to a more jazzy style. The prog nuances consist of time changes which, while staying within standards, bring movement to both individual tracks and the album as a whole. One important thing to note is that this trio combines characteristics of metal and jazz: to explain better, as mentioned before, the rhythms are very varied and the bass lines and phrases have quite a lively feel, while the keyboards have the classic jazz feel, but this doesn't mean they are predictable; on the contrary, some passages are quite unique, even though you often hear typical blues phrases.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it doesn't seem necessary to describe the group members as they are already established in the music scene and are more or less known. Surely, you'll know Billy Sheehan for his work both as a soloist and as the bassist of Mr. Big... I don't know much about Sheehan as a metalhead, although he is known for his virtuosity, almost a bass shredder. With this trio, he should definitely be reevaluated completely because he demonstrates not only technique but also creativity. Chambers is known as a drummer for many reasons, I imagine primarily for his work with the experimental Santana typical of the (alas) past years. Novello, I confess, I hadn't even heard of before, yet he surprised me greatly; he has a very engaging style with his Hammond keyboards and Kurzweil piano in particular.

This album could be a great way to get closer to this formation. I highly recommend it, and overall, it is very well produced, so I give it the highest rating. Obviously, this rating should be seen in relation to what the current music scene offers, where it's often the image that counts. Here we have an example of musicians who are not just image, attempting to provide a bridge between the masterpieces of the past and the musical innovation of the future...