Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 10/26/2009
By a Thread is
Gov't Mule's first studio album since
High & Mighty was issued in 2006. Since that time, bassist
Andy Hess has been replaced by
Jorgen Carlsson, though
Hess appears on two tracks at the end of the album. Ensconced at
Willie Nelson's
Pedernales Studio outside of Austin, the band recorded from the ground up and wrote everything in the studio. It's right; it's big and fat and nasty.
Carlsson's playing style is much more aggressive than
Hess', and is therefore closer -- in spirit anyway -- to
Gov't Mule's original bassist, the late
Allen Woody, though he possesses an adventurous sense of time and is harmonically more colorful than either
Woody or
Hess.
Carlsson and drummer
Matt Abst are a solid match, since
Abst is a drummer used to shifting time signatures and allowing the unexpected in while still driving a band. The band's keyboardist and rhythm guitarist,
Danny Louis, is a shape-shifter, playing to whatever is needed in a given track. His manner of coloring sounds inside and around a particular tune's framework is a large part of what makes
Gov't Mule's sound so fresh here -- despite the fact that they don't stray far from what they do best.
Warren Haynes and his guitar are, as usual, front and center, his guitar screaming, his big throaty growl hammering down lyrics like a Southern fire-and-brimstone preacher with earthshaking soul. The material on this set is tight; there is less jamming but
Gordie Johnson's production and mixing equalize everything at ten, making it feel like the disc is recorded live.
The set opens with the pulsing bass THROB of
"Broke Down on the Brazos," just before
Haynes and guest guitarist
Billy Gibbons enter and let the tough, riff-laden blues snarl get in and slash it up a bit. The roar is wondrously deafening and the pace is fierce. Likewise, the slightly more tuneful
"Steppin' Lightly" does anything but. With its funky big rock trio riff, it kicks up dust with
Haynes playing some killer funk-laden fills as
Carlsson and
Abst syncopate and pop through both hard rock and reggae backbeats. The hook on the choruses is a nice surprise, but it's anything BUT a pop song. Other notables include the Delta blues-flavored
"Railroad Boy," which opens up into full-on stun, with staccato riffing that recalls
Led Zeppelin at their very best. The
Hendrix-ian "Any Open Window" is dedicated to the memories of
Mitch Mitchell and
Buddy Miles, and the tune's structures recall them both -- different as they were. The interaction in the rhythm section here is simply stunning.
"Frozen Fear" is a country-rock midtempo ballad with a reggae backbeat and showcases
Louis on Hammond B-3. The album's longest cut,
"Inside Outside Woman Blues #3," also recalls the big wide-open blues and wah-wah jamming style of
Jimi Hendrix.
Haynes opens with a savage solo, and moves into the big, slow, metallic blues that
Gov't Mule do better than anybody at present. But check the bassline; its nastiness is so powerful it rivals
Haynes' guitar for the front line even if it's only keeping time. Ultimately,
By a Thread was well worth the wait. Though
Gov't Mule have always tried to push the envelope on their studio records, this time out they give fans enough of the tried and true while gelling in an entirely new way. If ever there were a time to check this band out for the first time, or catch up, this is the album.
~Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
;)
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