Album Details

• Artist: Maserati
• Album: Passages
• Label: Temporary Residence
• Year of Release: 2009
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: digitalbath on 2010-01-13

Maserati's 2009 release, Passages, was a pleasant surprise for me in my latest review package.  I haven't heard a band like this in a long time.  Maserati incorporates a mixture of post-rock, progressive rock, and electronica that comes out sounding decent.  My only complaint with the album is simply that it gets a bit repetitive and the production quality sounds like it could have been a lot better, had they changed a few things around.  It's definitely not an album that I'm jumping out of my jeans for, but I don't feel the need to bash them either.

As far as content goes, it consists of only four actual songs and then four remixes to finish out the album.  All four of the songs kind of blend together in a way that makes you forget how the song started in the first place once you get to the end.  The instrumentation seems to be focused primarily on what sounds like synthesized drum and bass guitar with guitar featuring a heavy amount of delay to provide a melody.  All of the songs on the album are purely instrumental, which is where the repetitiveness comes into play.  It is really difficult to write instrumental tracks these days without finding yourself vamping a bit.  The remixes are where it starts to get a bit unbearable though.  The first remix is a track that spans a whopping 8 minutes and 11 seconds of the same thing over and over again.  A vocal sample is spliced in here and there to change it up a bit, but not in a way that would make you forget that you've been listening to the same thing for 8 minutes.

If you are really into electronica or are looking for an album to purchase for the novelty of having an instrumental record that kind of sounds like Tool in the beginning, I'd definitely purchase Passages.  However, while I can personally see some merit in Maserati's style, I truly don't believe that the conventional listener would have the patience to get through the entire album. 

User Reviews and Comments

on 2011-04-15 dscanland Said:

I just randomly threw on Passages by Maserati and am literally blown away. This is one of the best instrumental rock albums I have heard in a LONG time! The metronomic qualities of the band can't be understated. John, I would probably give this a 4 - 4.5 stars.
Rating: 8/10