Mourning Widows Atlanta GA

Mourning Widows

Mourning Widows

A&M Records, 1998

REVIEW BY: Matthew Turk

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 01/17/2001

The last thing I expected to hear shine on a pseudo-solo albumfrom the former guitarist of Extreme was amazing vocal prowess. Ihad rather expected it'd be filled with Pornograffiti-esque solos or more wank-rock in the style ofthe "faded guitarist" mode. Truth be told I like Extreme, and Ithink that the influences they drew from Queen should have beenallowed to shine through more, as they seemed most successful whenchanneling Brian May and Freddie Mercury. Tales of Nuno Bettencourt(or just Nuno as he's been called of late) on stage with Brian makeme grin, as both are among my favorite guitarists.

The one aspect of Mourning Widows that stuns me is Nuno's amazing vocals. Thisis actually his second full-length effort outside of Extreme, andthe first one that sports a band name - Mourning Widows. After sometroubling starts, it never did get distributed in the US, so I'vehad to content myself with an imported copy.

The album starts out with a monologue about keeping theperformances in the studio as real as can be given onstage. Theidea of somewhat stripped-down rock is held through the entirealbum, with enhancements in just the right places - as evidenced bythe hard-rock infused with harmonies of the first three tracks. Thefourth track, "The Air That You Breathe" is one that I really don'tget into - but otherwise the first third are songs that featuregreat hooks, glossy harmonies and beautiful execution.

The fifth track is one that allows Nuno's subtle,Springsteen-ish humor to shine through. "I Wanna Be Your Friend"starts out with two minutes of interestingly distorted drumsreminiscent of the solo from Zappa's "Packard Goose." The songalways makes me grin, with lyrics like "I promise not to drool / Onyour date / When we hang." This piece is one of the highlights fromthe album.