Mahogany Head Grenade - Return To The Point Of Departure (CD Review)

01.Return To The Point Of Departure
02.Trouble For Trouble
03.Vinedresser
04.Etude War Machine
05.Venetian Bricks


Dan Hyer (Guitar)
Mike Pritchett (Drums)
James Falcon (Bass)

Texas based Mahogany Head Grenade are a Progressive Instrumental trio formed circa 2011, this is their first release.

The recording was tracked live, recorded & engineered by Sterling Winfield (Pantera, Damageplan, Hellyeah) at Valve Studios in Dallas.  Mastered by Maor Appelbaum (Cynic, Halford, Sepultura) at Maor's studio in California, USA.

Guitarist Dan states that "Return, combines historical audio samples with a 20th century classical approach to melodies, themes, and song structure.  All the while, we stay true to our Texas Metal roots."

Anyone who knows me or have read reviews on this site will know that i do not like this style of rock music, for me the technical Satriani/Vai genre is clever but lacks soul, so when i recieved this ep i wasnt exactley looking forward to hitting play.

But i hit play anyway and was slightly surprised by what i heard, the opening track 'Return To The Point Of Departure' has an amazing intro using samples from movies over some nice synth playing, very reminicent of classic Rob Zombie, when the music kicks in, there is a vibrancy to the music and the production is top notch.
Unfortunatley the clever riff heavy guitar work doesnt sit comfortabley with my ears, if it had vocals i think it would work better.
However the use of movie samples throughout the track does break it up enough to make you want to listen to the track all the way through.

'Trouble For Trouble' starts in the same manner but with some great bass work and a nice moody guitar riff all held together by solid, rhythmic drumming.

Okay so now a patter is emerging as again it starts with movie samples and then moves into the same structure.
This one has some nice timing changes and some jazz guitarwork, reminds me of some of Zappa's later work.

For sure its more of the same with 'Etude War Machine' but this one has some balls with some heavy guitarwork.

Fuck i thought this was going to be a cover of Al B Damned's 'Lust For Death' the opening is identical! but 'Venetian Bricks' is original!

Okay so like i said not my style of rock music, that said this is a good ep and has more to offer than a lot of other musicians output.

Rating 8/10
For Fans Of: Frank Zappa, Malmsteen/Vai/Satriani, Dragonforce.

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