The Morton Gaster Papadopoulos project recently released “The Burnt Offerings”. The song includes Naeemah Maddox on vocals, Lamb of God’s Mark Morton on guitar, Clutch’s Jean-Paul Gaster on drums, Stinking Lizaveta’s Yanni Papadopoulos on guitar and Chris Brooks on keys. Sounding almost like a jam session, Papadopoulos says “What your hearing is virtually a live in the studio track. Mark’s solo was cut live with bass and drums with no edits. First take magic!”
“The Burnt Offerings” song lasts a little under six minutes and is made up of two distinct themes split up by a bridge and guitar solo. The first theme runs about two and a half minutes, the bridge and guitar solo last a little under two minutes and the second theme runs about one and a half minutes. The structure is a little uncommon. The themes are so unique that they could possibly be considered two songs alone.
The first theme sounds like classic rock with a very groovy feel. The bass riffs are really moving. The vocals are top notch. The lead guitar has a decent amount of distortion, but not too muddy at all. The riffs are very clear. A nice mix overall.
The bridge starts with all the tone colors from the first theme sustaining until they attenuate leaving only the bass and guitar remaining. The guitar begins to give off harmonic feedback on top of a new steady bass riff. The drums and a flute join in. The guitar starts a new dreamy melodic riff imitated to some degree by the flute for a brief measure or so before the guitar breaks out into a kick ass classic rock solo.
The second theme starts with chant-like vocals over a bass, drums and guitar riff similar to the bridge. The vocals start to sound a little groovy again with the repeating verse “Let me tell you something/I think you want to know.” The guitar starts to break into a little lead again, until quickly ceasing and leading into a relatively short outro.
Clutch’s lead singer Neil Fallon has recently teamed up with Two Minutes To Late Night, guitarist Stephen Brodsky of Mutoid Man and Cave In, drummer Ben Koller of Converge, guitarist Adam McGrath of Cave In and guitarist Tom Draper who currently tours with Carcass to cover AC/DC “Riff Raff.”
Lamb of God just wrapped up their first self-titled album Lamb of God earlier this month with frontman Randy Blythe stating that the album was the “most relaxed collaborative” project the band has ever done. Also to be noted, “The Burnt Offerings” vocalist Maddox is featured on one of the album’s tracks titled “Reveal.”
Maddox, who is an African American woman, stayed after the session to talk with The Obelisk. She appeared concerned with the state of current affairs and stated “Being against police brutality in 2020 shouldn’t even be a political issue. This is a failure of our society and goes beyond political persuasion. This is about human rights and creating a world our children would want to live in.”
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