- advertisement -

DAVE LOMBARDO
Rites Of Percussion
Ipecac Recordings

What was a longtime coming, highly overdue but took decades and various calamities to influence and produce, unleashed though the label Ipecac Recordings (the brain-child of the genius Mike Patton), the highly artistic journey into sound and percussion known as Rites Of Percussion is the result of the epic career and life of living drum legend, the phenomenal world renowned drummer Dave Lombardo. For the listener and die-hard fan, this can only go 1 of 2 ways. On one side some might be disappointed while others astonished once again by the brilliance that Dave has always displayed in anything he touches. While there would be some obvious expectations who'd believe that this will be some brutal onslaught of speed-infused thrash drumming, there are others who understand the multi-faceted talent that Dave is known for as well. While broadening his horizons, his impactful involvement with multiple bands and artists has been nothing short of brilliant.

I'll cover the astonishing list of acts he's worked with but let's dive right into Rites Of Percussion. The Godfather of Double-Bass (as coined by Drummerworld.com, a website dedicated to the world's greatest drummers) has laid down what I'd have to describe as an amazing performance of capturing the heart's various rhythms between nervousness, excitement, sadness, joy and a wide spectrum of emotions. Dave describes this imagery invoking journey as "Songs to conjure emotion. There are no lyrics... taking mental images and putting those images to music." In essence, Lombardo may have also tapped into some new uncharted territory, combining his Cuban roots of Caribbean sound and the drumming barrage he's known for, into a successful experiment. Whereas a soundtrack serves as background support, his music takes the forefront as both the protagonist and the antagonist. Rites Of Percussion goes from premonitions of war to jovial and light-hearted jamming, chilling fear-inducing terror, and lots of psychedelia. While feeling spontaneous within this controlled chaos, there's a method to the madness in all this as Dave admits,"It's a combination of improvisational and composed music."

Lombardo has always been surrounded by brilliance. His work alone with Mike Patton in FANTOMAS, DEAD CROSS and MR. BUNGLE has been awesome. He's thrown down for legends THE MISFITS, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, TESTAMENT and of course SLAYER (RIP) - just to name a few. Even the soundtrack world is one Dave has experienced on multiple occasions, which explains the audio environments created by Lombardo on Rites of Percussion. The wide variety of films and TV shows he has been involved include 2004's DAWN OF THE DEAD, INSIDIOUS 3, CALIFORNICATION - and many more.

Taking things into his own hands, during lockdown times and the work and events artists had been lacking, Dave took the time to educate himself further in preparation to record this monumental debut solo record. He describes this learning process as "the time to educate myself on different software and recording techniques. It was a very educational and gratifying experience." Thankfully he stayed away from the over-polished sound that modern studio technology has provided as both a blessing and a curse. Dave exclaims,"I'm anti-quantization. It's an absolute turn-off when I hear processed, sterile drums... there's no dynamic or variation in intensity, it doesn't speak to me." To help capture these moments in Dave's home studio known as Ritmo Studio was his son, Dave who helped mix the album. Additional atmospheric elements were added at Studio 606, the San Fernando Valley based studio owned by Dave Grohl.

The Cuban born Grammy winner has leveled up once again and reached a great achievement and milestone in an outstanding career that is far from over, displaying that he can create and re-create awe-inspiring moments either with other bands and legends and on his own, on his own terms.

4.5 Out Of 5.0