I'll allow I'm cheating a bit here, since Probot isn't really a band, but a one-off project by multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Dave Grohl of Nirvana and Foo Fighters fame. It may come as a bit of a surprise, as much as I've lamented the Nirvana effect on popular rock music, but I have a lot of respect for Dave (and the rest of Nirvana for that matter, but especially Dave) as a musician and professional. Over the years, he's played or sung with... well, with everybody. From appearances with Puff Daddy, Tom Petty, Tony Iommi, The Bangles and Ghost to major contributions with the aforementioned bands as well as Queens of the Stone Age and Tenacious D, he has to be one of the busiest guys in the heavy music world.
Dave's heaviest contribution to date is his metal project, Probot, which exhibits his excellent heavy rock compositional skills as well as performance on guitar, bass, drums and backing vocals. The album also demonstrates his affinity for and authenticity in the genre by featuring contributions from a veritable who's who of early underground influencers of the heavy metal of the past two to three decades. Lead vocalists include Cronos (of Venom), Max Cavalera (of Sepultura), Lemmy (of Motörhead), Mike Dean (of early Corrosion of Conformity), Kurt Brecht (of Dirty Rotten Imbeciles), Lee Dorian (of Napalm Death and Cathedral), Wino (of St Vitus), Tom G. Warrior (of Celtic Frost), Snake (of Voivod), Eric Wagner (of Trouble) and the inimitable King Diamond (of Mercyful Fate). And that's not even mentioning the hidden track featuring Jack Black on lead vocals! I leave it to you to do your own research on any or all of those bands, but you're welcome to take it from me that they're pretty much all important members of the historical legacy of heavy metal music. Well, maybe with the exception of Mr. Black (no offense intended). And the album art is even by Voivod drummer Away.
Included for your listening pleasure is one of the 11 (12 if you count the bonus track) excellent straight ahead metal tracks on the lone Probot album from 2004. The song's called Centuries of Sin and features Cronos on vocals. There's not a ton to say about it in terms of form, but it does show Dave's knack for the subtle gimmicks that make a catchy rock song, like the introduction without drums and its restatement at 1:54 and half-time/double-time transitions between sections. I'd also like to highlight his terrific drumming, which is always driving, on the front edge of the beat, providing so much energy to everything on which he plays. This may be blasphemous, but he reminds me of one of my all-time favorite musicians across genres in that regard, Michael Brecker. And he sets up arrivals at the tops of phrases so well. I hope you enjoy this barnburner from Probot.
No comments:
Post a Comment