Review | Richie Kotzen – Nomad

BMG

On his latest album ‘Nomad’ guitarist/singer Richie Kotzen shows his fans how during the years he has matured and grown as a musician. The man has been around since the early nineties with numerous albums and being involved with the fantastic band The Winery Dogs where he forms a tight union with top musicians Billy Sheehan (bass) and Mike Portnoy (drums). I wonder how the future of The Winery Dogs looks like now that Portnoy has returned to the Dream Theater fold. It could be a while before we hear anything new of The Winery Dogs but at the same time do not be surprised if this super trio comes up with a new album in the next year. And let us not forget Richie’s collaboration with Iron Maiden axe-slinger Adrian Smith on the Smith/Kotzen project.

MUSICAL MIX

On ‘Nomad’ Richie Kotzen presents a musical mix between heavy rock, a touch of metal but also a large portion of fusion and funky stuff. His singing is now top-notch and his guitar acrobatics are also quite impressive and intense. The only thing is that the album switches direction more than ever, maybe leaving the listeners a bit confused about the musical direction of ‘Nomad’. Richie has almost done everything himself on this album, the writing, recording, singing, and playing all instruments. The drums he did himself with the exception of two songs where he used Kyle Hughes (,,These Doors’’) and Dan Petruch (,,Nomad’’). As for the rest it has been a one man show by mister Kotzen.

ALL-ROUND MUSICIAN

You can say that Richie Kotzen has become an all-round musician who is not restricting himself to just playing rock music. Okay, rock still dominates this album, but on several songs, it is variety galore. Even an acoustic ballad such as ,,This Is A Test’’ is part of the proceedings. It is a simple track, loosely constructed but sensitive and because of that quite charming as well. ,,Insomnia’’ is a crazy funk metal track. ,,Nihilist’’ has a lot of fusion influences but has really crazy guitar work while album opener ,,Cheap Shots’’ is an old fashioned up-tempo hard rocker. Above all, it must be stated that the guitar work (though not strictly rock or metal) is finger licking good over the whole album.

RICHIE KOTZEN – THE CONCLUSION

I guess that if you have been following the career of this man you will agree with me that ‘Nomad’ is by far the most varied album throughout his whole career. Richie Kotzen has allowed himself some musical liberties that might take his fans a bit of time to digest and get used to. My main point of criticism is that the record only has eight songs and not even has a playtime of thirty-five minutes all together. In these expensive times that is just a minimal effort, if you ask me. A few more rockers in the vein of ,,Cheap Shots’’ or the guitar driven track ,,These Doors’’ would have beefed ‘Nomad’ up quite nicely indeed. It would have added some extra value to an album that certainly has its moments.

Release date: 27 September 2024