Marbin were seemingly out to prove they could play any type of fusion or progressive jazz-rock on their first two MoonJune label albums, 2011's
Breaking the Cycle and 2013's Last Chapter of Dreaming. And there's nothing wrong with wowing listeners by demonstrating mastery of music ranging from lilting to explosive, although some of the Chicago-based quartet's juxtapositions could be whiplash-inducing, as when
Breaking the Cycle's gentle and melodious "Mom's Song" was immediately followed by the burning blues-rocker "Bar Stomp." On
Marbin's 2014 MoonJune outing,
The Third Set, infrequent lyrical interludes are integrated nicely into the compositions, while more often than not the band throws itself squarely on the bar-stomping side -- as one might expect for an album recorded on tour at watering holes throughout the hard-partying, sometimes hardscrabble U.S. Midwest. Ten tracks from ten gigs at bars from Green Bay, Wisconsin to Manhattan, Kansas, and it's safe to assume that nobody in attendance came to hear a lullaby.
Marbin are cranked up from the get-go with the pounding metal-tinged fusoid shredfest "Special Olympics," complete with guitarist/co-composer Dani Rabin and soprano saxophonist/co-composer Danny Markovitch's impossibly tight and speedy unison lines followed by a knockout solo break from Rabin that probably dropped some jaws at Murph's South End Tap in Dubuque, Iowa that night. Rabin in particular is an unstoppable force shooting fireworks from his fretboard across the entire album, giving the likes of
Joe Satriani and
Steve Vai a run for their money -- with a few scattered nods to
Hendrix along the way.
"The Depot" finds Rabin taking a leap from chugging metal monster into soulful and then incendiary blues-rocker, with flurries of notes spiraling out over the solid yet responsive backing of drummer Justyn Lawrence and bassist Jae Gentile; Markovitch takes the helm midway through the track with a characteristic sharp soprano tone and phrasing that pulls the hard-rocking band toward swing, but
Marbin never lose their heaviosity. With its bluesy, spacy slide guitar and melodic soprano sax theme, the opening to "Crystal Bells" does find
Marbin slowing the pace and allowing space into their arrangement -- until the quartet goes anthemic and Rabin aims skyward with another riveting solo. "Redline" finds the band boogying and swinging ferociously as Markovitch gets his turn to strut over a funked-up vamp, followed by -- you guessed it -- Rabin again pushing the proceedings into the red, this time with some killer octave and wah-wah pedal effects. "Culture" is a powerful Balkan/Middle Eastern-infused highlight, and if anything, the 65-and-a-half-minute album -- like a single well-sequenced live show -- saves some of its strongest shredders for its second half, including the jammin' funkfests "Rabak" and "Splaw," both of which give Lawrence opportunities to go wild. At eight minutes in length, the album-closing alternately lyrical and deliriously rapid-fire powerhouse "Volta" is nearly double the length of Last Chapter of Dreaming's comparatively glossy yet rollicking studio version -- and it packs nearly double the punch. ~ Dave Lynch