2012.09.25 Maserati - Maserati VII

Color: A&B - Clear w/ Gray Haze, C&D- Clear with Maroon Haze

Released: 2012, October 2

Label: Temporary Residence Limited

Moving is a pain in the ass. I’m just putting that out there. Moving (and packing up my records in order to move them) somewhat have forced my hand in to posting two records that I JUST got in the mail. But I don’t so much mind with this one. I’ve been hotly anticipating this record for a good portion of this year. When it became apparent that Maserati were going to trudge forward and continue without Jerry Fuchs, a lot of questions were raised… most notably: “What would the band sound like without him? Would they go a different direction? WHO could replace Fuchs? Will the new record be ANY GOOD?!” Sweet Jesus, yes it would! Maserati, enlisted Athens, GA native Mike Albanese (from the band Cinemachanica) to pound the skins for them. While obviously a different drummer, he proves up to the task. The first two jams from this record that appeared online, sounded VERY promising, but were also a bit misleading. A trace of the Maserati from their last full length remained, but this seemed to be a band ready to rock and potentially looking back to material for Inventions For The New Season. In some ways this might be the case… but ultimately, not really. Nor are they just regurgitating the sound that dominated their last full length. The prognosis is that Maserati still very much owes a debt to Fuch’s influence but also takes into consideration their entire output up to this point and begins to mold it into something new. The record starts out sounding very similar to the Turing Machine (another band blessed and haunted by Fuchs talent and passing) record released earlier this year but shortly makes it very apparent that this band still love their guitars. Maserati VII ends up being equal parts new-wave dance record and Floyd indebted space rock with quite a bit of pick up. The whole thing is quite solid with a strong start and barely a brief dip in tempo before annihilating the listener at the finish. So far track two, “Martin Rev” has been stuck in my head on repeat whenever I’m actually not listening to the record itself. I’m still a sucker for Inventions… but this is a damn strong contender for their finest studio outing. Similar to their last release on TRL, the packaging makes use of some spot UV coating which enhances the trippy space-age artwork. The colorway of both pieces of vinyl are absolutely gorgeous.  This is a special record, indeed.