Bumblefoot
Little Brother is Watching
Bumblefoot Music
2015
After a 6-year hiatus and being a member on Gun n’ Roses, the guitar virtuoso Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal returns with his tenth album as Bumblefoot. This is his second release after he joined GnR, as his previous album “Abnormal” was released in the same year with “Chinese Democracy”. The eccentric, talented and creative musician, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ron throws in the idea that apart from the “big brother”, the “little brother” is also watching us all no matter where we are… it’s like a race for “who is watching whom”! The lyrics that have a humorous approach deal with life in the digital age and beyond.
Everything here has been taken care of by Ron himself as always. He composed, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album at his own studio in New Jersey. He has his long-time drummer Dennis Leeflang (Sun Caged) along and this time there’s also a crowd of 100 fans stomping, chanting and singing backing vocals recorded at a listening party in New York. What a brilliant idea to include his own fans in the recordings! I bet every single one of them will be more than excited to listen to their voice on an album by their beloved artist!
Musically, the album blends various rock & metal music styles together. That’s obvious if you have listened to any of Ron’s previous works. A musician like Ron cannot stick to a certain music genre. He uses everything that comes on handy at the given moment. The experimental character of the album notwithstanding, Ron keeps the songwriting as catchy and straightforward as he should, in order to be comprehensible by every rock/metal fan out there. No elitist or snobbish music behaviors like other musicians who end up mocking their fans. The guitar leads are simply magnificent in every track. It’s been a while since I’ve been so eager to listen to a guitar solo! Undoubtedly, Ron is the master of guitar! His solos are mostly melodic, technical, fast and “strange” (due to that “weird” fretless guitar) without showing off like numerous other guitarists, who result in repeating themselves just for the sake of it. But there’s more than that. Ron sings wonderfully on this album too… but that’s no news especially for his loyal followers.
There’s a musical variety throughout the album which offers an essential and spirited character to the release. When all's said and done, I can definitely say that Ron has released one of his strongest works to date; a splendid, amusing, and enthralling rock album overall… what’s not to like here?! Ron has proven his musical genius with “Little Brother is Watching” once again…
Everything here has been taken care of by Ron himself as always. He composed, produced, recorded, mixed and mastered the album at his own studio in New Jersey. He has his long-time drummer Dennis Leeflang (Sun Caged) along and this time there’s also a crowd of 100 fans stomping, chanting and singing backing vocals recorded at a listening party in New York. What a brilliant idea to include his own fans in the recordings! I bet every single one of them will be more than excited to listen to their voice on an album by their beloved artist!
Musically, the album blends various rock & metal music styles together. That’s obvious if you have listened to any of Ron’s previous works. A musician like Ron cannot stick to a certain music genre. He uses everything that comes on handy at the given moment. The experimental character of the album notwithstanding, Ron keeps the songwriting as catchy and straightforward as he should, in order to be comprehensible by every rock/metal fan out there. No elitist or snobbish music behaviors like other musicians who end up mocking their fans. The guitar leads are simply magnificent in every track. It’s been a while since I’ve been so eager to listen to a guitar solo! Undoubtedly, Ron is the master of guitar! His solos are mostly melodic, technical, fast and “strange” (due to that “weird” fretless guitar) without showing off like numerous other guitarists, who result in repeating themselves just for the sake of it. But there’s more than that. Ron sings wonderfully on this album too… but that’s no news especially for his loyal followers.
There’s a musical variety throughout the album which offers an essential and spirited character to the release. When all's said and done, I can definitely say that Ron has released one of his strongest works to date; a splendid, amusing, and enthralling rock album overall… what’s not to like here?! Ron has proven his musical genius with “Little Brother is Watching” once again…