Music Theories Recordings [Release date 14.10.25]

Steve Morse Band’s ‘Triangulation’ is a complex, intense and yet accessible virtuosic album which successfully evokes the conceptual ‘Triangulation’ album title.

The ‘triangulation’ concept refers to geographically pinpointing your exact location at a specific moment in time. And musically speaking, this locked-in trio do precisely that as they burst at the seams with a relentless riff driven, multi genre approach, which on the title track approaches the frenetic.

While rock and fusion provide the main arteries here, there’s also some significant prog influences, as well as blues, funk, chunky grooves and a tonal array scattered over rapid time changes, unison guitar playing and ever present breathless trio interplay.

The constant search for space is a function of the dynamics of an interesting album, on which Morse and his bass player Dave LaRue – who played with him in the Dixie Dregs and Flying Colors - constantly engage in different levels of musical conversation.

And when they nearly pause for breath, they derive further energy from powerhouse drummer Van Romaine.

‘Triangulation’ is a riff driven, bass propelled album with a fleeting funky undertow. The trio is self evidently the sum of its parts as Morse and bass player LaRue solo seamlessly and weave in and out of evolving instrumental pieces.

The opening ‘Breakthrough’ for example, is a solid groove full of intricate interplay and Morse’s spiralling riffs with added bass riffs.

Some additional slap bass at the 1.54 mark, gives the bottom-end a chunky feel and provides the perfect foil for some spacey licks.

‘Breakthrough’ is both the perfect title and musical gateway to an album which achieves its goal of keeping the listener interested in 9 instrumental rock tracks.

There’s real invention here and an adventurous feel on tracks like the bass-led, ‘March Of The Nomads’, which features second guitarist Scott Sim.

The dense sounding track is quickly ripped asunder by a sharp fusion solo over muscular rhythmic accompaniment.

It’s also the perfect example of how the trio builds a tension which Morse then resolves with a clarity of tone, unison guitar parts and a Celtic sounding outro over a military drum beat.

Put simply, this is an album full of musical arcs that engage the listener, but then quickly move on to unexpected directions with contrasting tones, short sharp solos, and pregnant arrangements.

At times the sheer weight of several busy tracks gives the album a claustrophobic feel, but this serves to draw the listener into the Jeff Beck influenced bluesy groove of ‘Off The Cuff’ and the more restrained ‘The Unexpected’.

The latter features a Robert Fripp style crafted tone and King Crimson ‘Red’ era density, before settling on a plateau that is ready made for a brief gently fingered bass solo.

The band rises again with a layered emotive sound and an intricate lattice of articulation and rhythmic feel, topped by a tremulous tone which evokes the song title.

In between the two; Eric Johnson guests on ‘TexUS’, a song notable for the way Morse returns to his seamless style of playing that featured on his late 80’s ‘High Tension Wires’ album.

The respective solos are an energetic statement of boundless virtuosity and a celebration of interwoven sonic splendour

There’s also another King Crimson feel to the boisterous ‘Icebreaker’ which features a strangulated piercing guitar tone and staccato Tull sound.

There’s a repeat of a slapped bass line on a heavy riffed theme, leading to a caustic sounding tone which slices its way through a heavy rock track, much like, eh-hem, an ‘Icebreaker.’

The album moves from disciplined arrangements to jam like moments which accommodate all 3 players without stretching the song beyond the original theme.

However, the phonetically titled ‘Tumeni Partz’ is the opposite, being a ‘kitchen sink and all’ track worthy of a review on its own.

This is the moment, where the band sounds as if they locked the studio door, told everyone else to go home, leaving the trio to push their prog, fusion and jazz imperatives to the limit.

The 11 minute track is a blur of lighting fast riffs, dazzling shreds and contrasting fluid guitar on a tightly wrapped piece with Zappa style time changes.

There’s a further mélange of spacey guitar influences, fretless bass and pounding drums leading to a moment at the 5.50 mark, when they appear to pause and look for somewhere else to go.

‘Tumeni Partz’ is a musical journey that goes hither and thither, before working its way to a jammed out finish with some breathtaking interplay.

John Petrucci joins Steve Morse on a title track, full of rumbling bass, crashing drums, power riffs, and chiming chords, which all come together on a brilliantly nuanced outro.

Steve is further joined by his son Kevin, who plays guitar on ‘Taken By An Angel’ a moving acoustic-into-electric guitar and keyboard-led ode to his late wife.

Where the rest of the album finds its spark in spontaneous spirited interplay, this track is understandably a slower evolving piece with a reflective feel, on which Morse’s final guitar figure imbues a keenly crafted album with a sonorous emotive finish. ****

Review by Pete Feenstra

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