Maserati: Inventions for the New Season
Temporary Residence

Yes, Maserati's (Coley Dennis, Matt Cherry, Steve Scarborough, Jerry Fuchs) Inventions For the New Season is sleek enough to justify the connection to the Italian sports car though the name doesn't capture the epic ferocity of the group's attack. Four years on from its last release, the new collection is a blistering collection of guitar-drenched instrumentals. Intricate lattices of pure, delay-heavy guitar picking cross paths with roaring stabs, resulting in a volcanic delivery that induces delirium at its most intense moments—think Deep Purple's Machine Head plus King Crimson's Red minus vocals.

Clearly setting the tone, the ten-minute opener “Inventions” at first simmers, threatening to explode, a feeling intensified by the violent riffs that tear across the metronomic patterns that rapidly stream and echo blow. And that detonation does come, and gloriously, about five minutes in with drummer Fuchs (!!!, Turing Machine, LCD Soundsystem, The Juan Maclean) hellaciously powering the band's gargantuan guitar stomp. Fuchs' chops are given a serious workout in “Synchronicity IV” and it's a joy to hear the tight crack of his snare propel the band into overdrive. Amazingly, though the blistering pitch the band rises to in this song is awesome, it verges on easy listening next to the light-speed, galloping howl the band delivers in “Show Me the Season.” Maserati wisely leavens such aggressive playing with chiming guitar cascades in “Kalimera” and “Kalinichta” that offer temporary shelter from the storm. Making sure that no one leaves with the wrong impression, the group closes the album with the elegant yet still raucous “The World Outside.” Headbanging never felt so good.

July 2007