Whitley Bay Daily Photo 134

Whitley Bay Daily Photo 133

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Whitley Bay Daily Photo 131

Random Rome I

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Grand General Grand General

Grand General
Grand General 
Rune Grammofon

Having worked live as the Kenneth Kapstad Group, Motorpsycho’s drummer has given this unashamedly jazz-rock orientated quintet a group identity for their recording debut. That’s a good move given the collective heroics that make this such a thrilling album.

Fueled by Ola Kvernberg’s fractious violin, the early Mahavishnu Orchestra influence can’t be ignored on these six raw and heated instrumentals. Alongside Kapstad’s tour-de-force drumming, Trond Frønes’ always potent bass locks-in perfectly to create an intelligent, pressure-sensitive support to Helte Hermansen’s dazzling fretboard excursions and Erlend Slettevoll’s luminous keyboards.

Incorporating folk-rock head-banging (Antics), wry cat-and-mouse dynamics (Clandestine) or rhapsodic duelling (Tachyon), they audaciously marry restless fervour and near-manic energy with seasoned precision and finesse.

What some jazz-rock practitioners forget is that instrumental chops alone aren’t enough to make a good album. 100 mph solos might impress the kids but what you need to make a classic album, and connect on an emotional level, are good old-fashioned tunes. Grand General get the balance between the head and heart of this affair exactly right; pieces you can sing along to and solos that’ll have you wondering what the hell just happened.



This review first appeared in Prog

Whitley Bay Daily Photo 128

Whitley Bay Daily Photo 127