JAMES LABRIE'S MULLMUZZLER 2

Mullmuzzler 2 is the second album from Mullmuzzler. Mullmuzzler is a project band created by vocalist James LaBrie of Dream Theater. Mullmuzzler will probably appeal to some fans of Dream Theater but it won´t be the fans of Dream Theater´s more complex compositions but rather those fans who like an album like Falling Into Infinity.

There are really no surprises if you have already heard the debut Keep It to Yourself from Mullmuzzler which was released in 1999. The style is much the same which means soft progressive metal with the emphasis on song melodies and not complex playing or intricate arrangements. The songs are for the most part pretty good but doesn´t really appeal much to me. The quality is high though.

There are both harder edged progressive songs like Afterlife and Venice Burning on the album, but there are also room for ballads like Falling and Believe. Most of the songs are mid paced heavy rock songs though. Confronting the Devil and Stranger ( with a very Dream Theater sounding keyboard riff) are good examples of that style.

The musicianship is really good and you have some of the best progressive metal musicians in the world contributing on the album. Mike Mangini ( Steve Vai) on drums, Mike Keneally ( Frank Zappa, Steve Vai, Solo) on guitars and Trent Gardner ( Magellan, Explorers Club) on keyboards.

The production is very similar to the one on the debut which means it´s clean and professional sounding but a bit cold.

The coverart isn´t the most beautiful thing and actually would suit a RIO band better.

I think this is a very average prog metal album. I´ll rate it 3 small stars because I can´t deny the quality in the compositions, but this is not music I would normally use my time listening to. For that it is way too generic. Don´t automatically buy this because you´re a Dream Theater fan. Take a listen before you buy this or you might be disappointed.

3.5 really

Mullmuzzler second album from 2001. The leader of this project is no one else than vocalist of Dream Theater - JamesLa Brie. He invited as guests on this album some very strong and well known musicians like: Mike Mangini from Annihilator, Trent Gardner from Magellan, Matt Guillory on keyboards from Dali's Dilemma and Brian Beller on guitars. They've done a great jobe mixing prog metal with some '70's hard rock a la Deep Purple. The music is well crafted delivering some great moments , like Afterlife,Venice Burning , Confronting The Devil, Stranger and Save me, the rest are ok. As a whole the music is a bit diffrent than the main band of LaBrie - Dream Theater - is more prog rock than a traditional progressive metal band, with more concentration on compositions than on individual skills of musicians, that's why all the pieces are under 7 minutes. Anyway each one has a high level and know to creat something intristing in this field. So the 2 Mullmuzzler is a good album with some great pieces, but i don't think he has the power to penetrated the progressive metal scene like DT for example. Like i said on other reviews of John Petrucci - Suspanded animation and James LaBrie - Elements of persusions, this Mullmuzzler second is in the same vein, good but with no guts to attack more efficient the prog metal field. The solo career of DT musicians don't have so much power and creativity like Dream Theater has. Finally a worthy album, not only for DT fans , but to prog rock fans all over the world. Good album, more like 3 stars rounded to 3.5.

A mainstream version of Dream Theater... sort of...

James Labrie is a very underrated singer and maybe is because of the same Dream Theater members (aka Mike Portnoy) who don't aloud him to share ideas and participate in the musical composing, but he is a talented and dedicated singer with good ideas and very dedicated to produce good material. In the project Mullmuzzler he proves that he have a very well heavy-metal-prog-pop taste in music and very radio friendly, as far as prog metal can be... this is his second solo album, and shows a huge step forward in comparisson of his first production.

The composing is mainly from keyboardist Matt Guillory and the lyrics are from Labrie and seems like his voice fit a lot more well in his solo albums. The album and the songs has a lot of changes and different sounding and vibes, it's great and it's not boring at all, a little less heavier that DT and the songs are shorter and less bussy, which is good to any "new" prog fan to start digging in prog metal... The quality of the musicians is OK, not at the level of Dream Theater but they are very good and the ideas are fresh and more radio friendly...

Yes, we have to compare this with Dream Theater because it's the same singer, and I say it can coexist very well... this album is in the route of what becomes his third solo album, Elements of Persuasion, which is his best production to date, but this album is quite good and you will get an interesting musical journey, especially for fans of the soft side of DT and prog metal in general... this is really an underrated album... it deserves a better place in the prog metal spot... you will enjoy this one...