Mullmuzzler is a solo project of Dream Theater vocalist, James LaBrie. Being a side project of one of the greatest progressive rock groups around today, you would expect that the group also holds their fair share of prog elements, and they do, but at the same time, they also contains a lot of aspects that set themselves far from the Dream Theater sound.
Keep It To Yourself is Mullmuzzler’s debut album, and it really does an excellent job at setting a solid basis for LaBrie’s future solo recordings. Starting off with the solid track “His Voice,” you already get a sense of how personal LaBrie’s lyrics are. It really makes me wonder why he hasn’t written more songs than he has for DT. The next track, “Statued” seems to be a direct response to “His Voice” in that the instrumentals play very similarly and the lyrics also seem closely tied together. “Shores of Avalon,” though probably my least favorite track on the album, has strong instrumental unity, but for being one of the longest songs on the album (at about eight minutes), it really doesn’t delve very far into different musical forms, making the final product relatively bland compared to the rest of the album.
At this point I had thought I got a good grip on what the album had to deliver, but man was I wrong. The next song on the album, “Beelzebubba,” starts off with a very heavy Chicago style, fusion sound, riddled with awesome bass lines and a slew of messy trombone hits. The lyrics are strangely delivered, discussing in a sarcastic tone, the Monica Lewinsky trials of President Clinton, under the coined nick-name, Slick Willy. “Guardian Angel” arguably stands as the albums greatest track artistically and instrumentally with its twisting styles and awesome Andrew Lloyd Weber tributes, but personally, I feel like the lyrics could have been a little better. At points they are beautifully poetic: Another day in a cold uncaring world / Dark treasons cold unhearted ways / I stand before your providence / Nobody comes, nobody goes; but at others, they seem to be lacking and almost corny: I dream of a place of simple love / Detached from the wicked and the bad / Lost out in a storm of sinfulness / Where is the kindness we used to have? I really don’t have much to say about “Sacrifice.” It’s a pretty typical ballad piece with some slight classic rock elements sprinkled in to give it more of a definitive sound, but it’s really nothing too special.
The album starts preparing itself for a close with the next track, “Lace.” This song is definitely the album’s darkest, and has a great vocal performance from LaBrie. The end of the song ends with this very progressive tutti type section between the keyboards and guitar, which goes for about twenty seconds only to fade out. I kind of wished they would have done more with this, as it seemed like a great transition point for the piece, but alas, it just silences the short-lived idea. “Slow Burn” drops the heavier rock sound, but still holds the progressive style giving us a beautiful, orchestrated ballad. I really enjoy the way the piano travels with LaBrie’s vocals on this one. That, along with the well written and presented lyrics, makes this one a favorite of mine. The closing track of the album really lets LaBrie shine in a way he never has on any Dream Theater recording. “As A Man Thinks” revolves almost entirely around the vocals in this semi a cappella song. At the times when the instrumentals are the main focus though, they do an excellent job acting as a response to the vocals or setting up the basis for the next verse to be delivered.
Overall, I’d say the tracks are pretty good. As far as the album goes, it could have been better. However, I don’t really think it was LaBrie’s intention to tie together the entire album into one voice, but rather to let each song speak for itself. Even in the case of the first two songs, it is apparent that each song is written from a different emotional perspective about the same idea, so even though the concept is similar, the voice of each song is completely different. With that said, I would say that this album is more for the casual progressive metal listener, but can still hold a solemn place in the collection of a prog enthusiast.
As for anyone who has a strong liking for Dream Theater, I highly recommend this album, mainly because it gives you a deeper look into the mind of James LaBrie. As I said, Keep It To Yourself is overall an incredibly personal album and really shows a different side of the Dream Theater vocalist.
For the more casual listener, I suggest checking out “His Voice,” “Guardian Angel,” and “Slow Burn,” as these are, in my opinion, the highlights of the album. You can check the whole album out at Napster with the following link:
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