Written
by Frank McClure, posted by blog admin
Coming
on like a bat out of hell from Minneapolis, Thomas Abban has written and
recorded a debut album masterwork that’s nothing but pure genius. A
Sheik’s Legacy contains that “lightning in a bottle” feel of a great studio
work that leads to major career opportunities, dedicated fans and a streak of
stellar albums to come. Not only can
Abban play the pants off of any instrument that comes his way, his songwriting
skills are dangerously fully formed at this early stage of his career.
There’s
no “formula” to be found on A Sheik’s Legacy.
Abban simply plays what he enjoys and puts no shackles on his
songwriting. This freedom to abstain
from a genre choice makes for an exciting rock record, the likes of which
aren’t made very often anymore.
Lyrically speaking, the subject matter is equally heavy as Abban starts
off with an examination of his own mortally on intro cut “Death Song,” a lively
piece which hops trains from pastoral folk to quaint singer/songwriter work to
heavy, incendiary heavy rock in its near 6 minutes of run-time. That’s just the tip of the iceberg on this
album. Second tune “Symmetry in Black
Tar” goes through as many mood changes as a Kansas song; sporting an authentic
progressive rock vibe with oddball time changes, acoustic guitars, near Latin
scales and all kinds of otherworldly compositional strangeness. Riffs rule the day on the muscular “Fear”
which is the kind of tune that 70s guitar rock giants like Mountain or Blue
Cheer would have scorched the airwaves with.
Abban keeps the riffs at the forefront of “Aladdin” as well but ventures
into a quirky midsection with banshee chanting while the verse/chorus vocals
have a lot of pop flavor thanks to plenty of “Oohs” and “Aahs.”
The
album is reduced to a gorgeous, heartfelt simmer throughout its middle portion;
acoustic guitars weighing heavy on the minds of tracks
such as “Time to Think,” “Horizons,” “Sinner,” “Don’t You Stay the Same,” “Let
Me Tell You Something,” “Irene” and “Lord.”
These tunes are not without their swells of bombastic volume but mostly
practice cautious restraint. What keeps
them from being “Acoustic Song A,” “Acoustic Song B,” etc. is the fact that
each one flirts with a different style from blues to country to pop to folk to
rock. Several veer into stretches of
almost world music with the selections traversing from Old West Americana to
the Holy Mountain Sinai in a single journey.
Reckless guitar riff abandon returns on “Uh” and curtain call cut “Born
of Fire,” the latter of which focuses more on serpentine leads than basic four
on the floor blues grooves. The dynamic
“Black Water” is another late album highlight with its utilization of electric
organ and a slow, desperate climb from acoustic ebbing to road-burning guitar
rock thunder.
A Sheik’s Legacy lives up to its
name crafting an early legacy and career highpoint for its author Thomas
Abban. This is rock n’ roll with soul,
passion and purpose that refuses to play to standards, tropes or
stereotypes. It’s rare to find this type
of music in the modern guitar-centered pantheon where genre seems to be the key
selling point. A Sheik’s Legacy has nothing to do with genre, it’s just an
old-fashioned rock album that meets and exceeds its epic intentions.
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