Featuring:
Bruce Arnold — Guitars and SuperCollider
Andy Galore — Bass
Kirk Driscoll — Drums
Bill Milkowski says it better than we can: “The outcome of this inventive trio session is a fresh amalgam of visceral rock bombast, jazzy harmonies and cutting edge sonics, the likes of which haven’t been heard since Terje Rypdal’s wildly experimental mid ‘80s power trio, The Chasers. His 28th release overall, “Heavy Mental”
is easily Arnold’s most hard-hitting and audacious outing to date”
In 2001 Bruce Arnold came out with “Give ‘Em Some” a jazz-rock n’ funk blast that had critics writing “… a CD of music that is both muscular and intellectual…,” “…Arnold manages to be technically brilliant and emotionally explosive all at once,” and “…one of the better jazz/rock/fusion albums I’ve listened to in (let’s say) the last 10 years.” *
Now Arnold comes roaring back with Heavy Mental, another return to his love of all-out electric guitar-driven, distortion drenched, high octane music. But as with all of Arnold’s ventures, this is music with an intellectual backbone. Arnold brings to bear all his investigations into 12-tone theory, hexatonics, and sound collage, using SuperCollider. The application of these theoretical strictures dictates very specific note choices,
making Arnold’s sound strikingly unlike any other guitarist in the field. And together with Andy Galore on Bass and drummer Kirk Driscoll it creates a powerful and mature musical statement that satisfies on every level.
In the 9 years since Arnold’s ground breaking “Give ‘Em Some” he has immersed himself in a plethora of differing genres. From exhilarating jazz adaptations of 20th century classical masters, to straight-ahead-with-a-twist jazz duets, Arnold has relentlessly pursued his passion for musical innovation. Heavy Mental comes full circle in a sense, as he returns to his rock roots, bringing along a rucksack of theoretical constructs, all of which have been thoroughly explored. Sit back, turn up the volume and get ready for some serious musical stimulation.
“Bruce was always an avant garde purveyor of the guitar—breaking down sonic walls with daredevil acumen— but on Heavy Mental, the sound is more guitar-centric jazz-rock fusion ala Terje Rypdal, Satch and Allan Holdsworth.... amazing fully formed fusion outing.” --mwe3.com
