Levin Minnemann Rudess - From the Law Offices (2016)

This is the 2nd album by the trio gentlemen of progressive metal. From the camp of prog rock is Tony Levin who bassist in King Crimson and Peter Gabriel, if you would call it progressive rock. His jamming buddy are Jordan Rudess and Marco Minnemann. Jordan and Tony already have jamming history in Liquid Tension Experiment (LTE), a mirror project of Dream Theater back in the day of Mike Portnoy. Interestingly is the duo pairing with Marco Minnemann. We all know Marco. He played in a lot of other project in similar style to this record. Marco closely "encounter" with Jordan and Dream Theater in the famous 7 drummers audition for Portnoy replacement. So I guess all the trio gentlemen already has bite of chemistry before they decided to do recording. Their first debut in 2013 was quite successful and accepted by the community. "From the Law Offices" is the follow up of that album.  From the Law Office follow closely the spirit of that album. This record is all about progressive metal, unlimited creativity and out of the world improvisation skill.

There are sixteen tracks on the album, enough to fill up of your day with quality music. The first track "Back to the Machine" is a cheekily starter. The song built up from simple riff. It is a good song that demonstrated how the drum going to respond in this simple melodic. After Levin and Marco setting up the basis , the main role is played by Jordan, who going to lay down all the melodies of the song. This basic formula is what defined the essence of trio LMR. As the second song come in, "Ready, Set, Sue" is much more "complicated". This song is set in funk, prog and techno feel, enjoyable mix. "Riff Splat" turn the highlight role to the bass. A loud overdrived bass making this song quite muscular. Although this album did not included any guitarists, the present of guitar can be heard in "Marseille" and "Balloon". The rest of songs done in similar fashion, tense improvisation and also lots of innovation.

This records is for prog fans that combined the fans base of three different world. From King Crimson to Dream Theater to Kreator, well, it was Marco's band after all. From the Law Offices followed up the trend of joining big names in trio setup. This is a great addition to similar project such as the Aristocrat, LTE, the Winery Dogs and so on.

Metal Harem class: ********* eight stars out of ten

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Levin Minnemann Rudess - From the Law Offices (2016)

01. Back to the Machine
02. Ready, Set, Sue
03. Riff Splat
04. What is the Meaning?
05. Marseille
06. Good Day Hearsay
07. Witness
08. Balloon
09. When the Gavel Falls
10. The Verdict
11. Free Radicals
12. Magistrate
13. Shiloh's Cat
14. The Tort
15. Testimony
16. Habeas Porpoise
17. The Tort (Ver. 2xb-74)

Line Up:
Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel, King Crimson) - Bass, Cello, Chapman Stick,
Marco Minnemann (Joe Satriani, The Aristocrats) - Drums, Guitars
Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) - Keyboards