{"id":17940,"date":"2014-01-21T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2014-01-21T00:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=17940"},"modified":"2014-06-23T14:01:27","modified_gmt":"2014-06-23T14:01:27","slug":"album-review-monte-pittman-the-power-of-three","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-monte-pittman-the-power-of-three\/","title":{"rendered":"MONTE PITTMAN – The Power Of Three (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

MONTE PITTMAN
The Power Of Three<\/strong><\/span>
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\nMetal Blade (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 9\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Monte Pittman is truly a musical chimera. If is name isn\u2019t familiar, his guitar work is, and you\u2019ll find it in surprisingly wide-ranging places. Many metal fans may know Texas-born Pittman for his work with Prong, particularly on the albums Scorpio Rising<\/em> (2003) and Power Of The Damager<\/em> (2007), where he shared both guitar and songwriting duties with band leader Tommy Victor.<\/p>\n

Fans of American football have seen him onstage with Madonna at Super Bowl XLVI (2012), a fitting honour for the man who has provided guitars for the pop icon\u2019s albums since 2001. Clearly Monte Pittman is a master of the six-string. The Power Of Three<\/em> shows that he\u2019s also a top notch songwriter and frontman. <\/p>\n

So what does the solo music from the man who can span the gap between Prong and Madonna sound like? Heavy. How heavy? It was produced by the legendary Flemming Rasmussen, known for his work on Metallica\u2019s Ride The Lightning<\/em> (1984), Master Of Puppets<\/em> (1986) and … And Justice For All<\/em><\/a> (1988). The bombastic sound that made these albums the stuff of heavy metal legends is in effect on The Power Of Three<\/em>, an album that brings to mind both Metallica and Alice In Chains at their heaviest.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Pittman doesn\u2019t shy away from letting a bit of pop seep into the mix. Catchy choruses hook the listener, and that is often the sign of a master songwriter. Pittman and his backing band (bassist Max Whipple, and drummer Kane Ritchotte) create an album with depth and appeal, while remaining firmly rooted in the heavy metal tradition. <\/p>\n

The Power Of Three<\/em> opens with a bit of dark, classical acoustic guitar that shortly builds into an acoustic thrash riff reminiscent of the heavier moments of Nick Oliveri\u2019s Death Acoustic<\/em> release (2009). This acoustic fury establishes the main riff of \u2018A Dark Horse\u2019, which after a few seconds bursts into life in full, distorted, metal glory. If this song sounds like anything, it could be an outtake from Jerry Cantrell\u2019s amazing Degradation Trip<\/em> album (2002), with its heavy, melodic and brooding chorus and chunky riffing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Everything\u2019s Undone\u2019 has a similar Alice In Chains groove, this time coupled with layers of King\u2019s X-style guitars that would make Ty Tabor proud and a pop hook that sinks into the listener\u2019s brain. Clearly, Monte Pittman has pulled from a wide range of top notch influences to craft his songs. <\/p>\n

No matter what style Pittman is incorporating, it\u2019s all firmly built upon the foundation of heavy metal. The thrash riffing and lightning speed guitar solo on \u2018Delusions Of Grandeur\u2019 prove that Madonna\u2019s hired hand was raised on the classic sounds of Metallica and Exodus.<\/p>\n

13-minute closing track \u2018All Is Fair In Love And War\u2019 opens with a beat straight from Marilyn Manson<\/a>\u2019s \u2018The Beautiful People\u2019 and soon turns into the kind of churning metal riff that could have graced any Metallica release previous to The Black Album<\/em> (1991). By the time the vocals arrive yet another rhythmic change leads to a feel that will be familiar to Testament fans.<\/p>\n

\u2018Away From Here\u2019 mixes churning metal and a pop chorus in a manner that makes it a close, heavier cousin to Jerry Cantrell\u2019s \u2018She Was My Girl\u2019. The impressive \u2018Before The Mourning Son\u2019 recalls Black Label Society, and Pittman\u2019s guitar hero contemporary Zakk Wylde. Monte Pittman brings the best sounds of heavy music together to create a compilation of songs that definitely impress. <\/p>\n

While the music on The Power Of Three<\/em> can be compared to some of the best metal of days gone by, Pittman always brands his songs with a unique style. Some of it is in the way he mixes different styles in the same song, some of it is in his voice, neither gruff nor weak, but well suited to these songs.<\/p>\n

Monte Pittman is an unsung hero of heavy metal whose time has come. The more I listen to The Power Of Three<\/em> the more I want to listen to it. Monte Pittman has created an album overflowing with classic sounds, intensity, and thick walls of distortion. The sound is huge, and it\u2019s hard to believe all this power comes from only three musicians. The Power Of Three<\/em> is what metal is all about, and Monte Pittman is all about metal.<\/p>\n

Jim McDonald<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MONTE PITTMANThe Power Of Three Metal Blade (2014)Rating: 9\/10 Monte Pittman is truly a musical chimera. If is name isn\u2019t familiar, his guitar work is, and you\u2019ll find it in surprisingly wide-ranging places. Many metal fans may know Texas-born Pittman for his work with Prong, particularly on the albums Scorpio Rising (2003) and Power Of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-monte-pittman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17940"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19220,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17940\/revisions\/19220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}