Written
by Pamela Bellmore, posted by blog admin
This
15-cut, tour de force debut offering from Thomas Abban is the kind of musical
juggernaut that baffles the mind. It’s
not even the age factor (though the fact that Abban is a mere 21 does blow the
mind), no, what is really extraordinary on an album packed with various
different instruments is the fact that Thomas play every single one of
them. Aside from the cello and flute,
Abban handles the guitars (acoustic, electric), vocals, drums, bass, piano,
keyboards, additional strings and auxiliary accoutrements (whistling, chants,
claps, snaps) are all him. Additionally,
he wrote, produced, arranged, mixed and sequenced the tracks.
Despite
Abban’s subtle similarities to rock n’ roll visionaries like Jimi Hendrix, Pete
Townshend and even Paul McCartney or John Lennon, his inspiration comes from
elsewhere. According to an interview
it’s Mozart and Beethoven that this young virtuoso draws from the most, thus
putting him into a similar ethic and mindset to Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore
who favored classical music more than anything else. This influence clearly provides the backbone
for the cinematic wallop of sense stirring barn-burners “Death Song,” “Symmetry
& Black Tar,” “Time to think,” “Lord,” “Echo,” “Black Water” and “Born of
Fire.”
Not
only do these tracks bring in a myriad of different instruments, more than any
type of list can muster, but just the way the vocals begin as breathy croons
and rise to authoritative, falsetto crescendos highlight the epic swells of
sound. The other instruments follow suit across the board; the guitars
reflecting acoustic ripples to world ending waves of distortion, the drums
ranging from righteous poly rhythms to pocket 4/4 time and the bass spiraling
from root notes to free-form groove… which
thusly renders the majority of compositions on A Sheik’s Legacy as otherworldly thanks to some hearty
manipulations in tone and playing style on Abban’s part as producer and band
leader. Even more traditional,
home-wrecking guitar jams akin to the towering riffer-y of “Fear,” “Aladdin’s”
smooth lava-like flow and the greasy metallic throw down of “Uh” offers sea
changes in guitar/vocal volume; each of these three tracks getting seemingly
louder and more powerful with each
passing minute. And like any masterful
singer/songwriter, Thomas displays that he can work in the all-acoustic format
and still captivates the listener’s attention just as much as he does when he’s
using progressive hard-rock advantages.
The tranquil manna of “Horizons” with its dazzling piano accompaniment, “Don’t
You Stay the Same” and the pop-prog grandeur contained within “Irene’s”
confines prove that Abban is a jack of many trades, master of all.
A Sheik’s Legacy
is
one of the most well-written, sonically pleasing rock albums to come out in the
last decade. There are no dull tracks or
wasted moments. No matter what style he
chooses to write in or how he decides to apply the dynamics from dashing to
deranged, Abban is in complete control of his craft and the resulting
collection of songs makes the most out of every aural opportunity.
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