1995 - Screaming Headless Torsos

Mar

19

1995 - Screaming Headless Torsos

≡ Category: 1990s, Avant-Guarde, Fusion, Jazz Funk, Jazz Rock, Recommended, Reviews, Vocals |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTE RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Let me start by stating the obvious: Screaming Headless Torsos is not for everyone. It’s a combination of flaming lead guitar, funk, metal, rap, and yodeling. Yes, yodeling.

I’m not going to lie to you. Dean Bowman, the nut who’s on vocals, can be downright irritating. I would have been happier if he had played it relatively straight, either rapping or singing. The first time he yodels, it’s startling, if goofy. By the tenth time, you want to strangle him. Dean also experiments with tonally varying his vocals, thickening or thinning the timbre, which is valid in theory but annoying in practice. He’s really hard to take on ballads, such as Wedding In Sarajevo.

On the other hand, the rhythm section kicks ass. Jojo Mayer on drums, Fima Ephron on bass, and Daniel Sadownick on percussion tend to stick to R&B and funk grooves, albeit with some pretty wacky time signatures. In spite of all the complexity, the tunes either rock or groove exactly as intended, which speaks volumes about the musicianship of these players.

But the real star of the band is David “Fuze” Fiuczynski, who has a very specific style on guitar. He handles the funk comps easily. Fiuczynski has the chops to do pretty much anything he can imagine. His leads are hallucinatory, full of quarter tones, slides and unconventional scales. He’s a blast.

The compositions are wild, maybe too wild for most people. The aggressive mix of vocals, odd time signatures, dissonance, funk, and metal is one of the oddest things I’ve ever encountered.

Even the band’s cover of Mile Davis’ Blue In Green is practically avant guarde. The band twists this venerable standard into a reggae tune which mutates into metal on the choruses, with vocalist Dean screaming his lungs out. Seriously weird.

In the end, Screaming Headless Torsos is for adventurous people who are bored with the same old music choices and desperate for something different. Screaming Headless Torsos is certainly that. Be careful what you wish for.