US power trio PINNICK GALES PRIDGEN was launched in 2013 when they released their self-titled debut album. The threesome, consisting of Dug Pinnick, Eric Gales and Thomas Pridgen, have due to their backgrounds occasionally been described as a supergroup, and their initial outing did indeed collect it’s fair share of favorable reviews. “PGP2” is their second full length production, and was released through US label Magna Carta in 2014.
This power trio is one that comes without any claims to originality whatsoever. This isn’t a band out to break nor breach boundaries, and not a band with a desire to seek out any new musical grounds previously unexplored. The premise of their music is good, old fashioned blues based hard rock, where they can combine their individual talents to create music that is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Initially they have indeed found their mojo, and the first third of this album is a sheer pleasure. The vocals re great, careful and controlled, and a pleasant and engaging contrast to the vibrant, dark toned guitar riffs and the explosive bass and drums that is at the core of everything. Beautiful, engaging guitar soloing is served us aplenty, and the distinctly blues based hard rock songs have a vital life you wouldn’t really expect from a contemporary power trio. A nice touch on the more distinctive blues oriented Watchmen is the gentler, psychedelic tinged opening part on this one, briefly revisited prior to the end, that adds a unique flavor to this particular song.
The second third of this album isn’t quite on that level, but the mojo is still strong and distinct here. All of these songs shies slightly away from the vibrant, bluesy hard rock style explored in the opening third, although in subtle rather than dramatic manners, and while adding a nice variation to the total album experience these songs just aren’t quite up there in terms of being the vibrant, totally engaging experiences we got in the initial third.
In the final third of this CD the songs are running out of steam a bit more. Again expanding the premises of the album a bit, but the intensity isn’t present on a comparable level as the best songs on this CD. Pleasant enough affairs though, and the high level of musicianship ensures that none of them are uninteresting, but the mojo is running a bit weak in this end phase.
In sum this is a good album though. The opening third of this CD alone merits a closer inspection here, and the high quality present also in the second third of this album makes this a production that merits to be inspected as an album experience rather than to give selected individual cuts a check. Fans of blues based hard rock as performed by a power trio obviously the main crowd for this one, but also fans of vibrant hard rock in general might want to give this one a spin, alongside fans of Pinnick’s main band King’s X.
My rating: 78/100
