if you're like me, then you learned of storm and stress through don caballero. ian williams plays guitar in don cab, and does so quite forcefully and effectively, obviously a man who knows how to navigate his instrument, as is the case with all of the members of the group.

if you expected to hear a continuation of don cab's spirit from storm and stress, well, get ready for a surprise. where don cab may seem to be completely lost and just stabbing in the wind, think again because the sonic path they take is as mapped as north america. this isn't to say that it's without digression, but that's irrelevant here.

enter storm and stress, which does get lost and just blubber around for an average of 10 minutes per song. i listened to the album as much as i could and found nothing of interest. call me a purist, but this "free rock" is just noise, plain and simple. it has it's moments of cohesion, but they are few and far between. the music of storm and stress may be expression, but is also a ploy at avoiding having to actually play in unison. it almost sounds like a band warming up BEFORE they actually start playing, and for that reason, i've been saying that this album never really gets started and ends without accomplishing anything.

my question: how does a guy that plays such great music as don caballero go on to play something as cacaphonious as storm and stress? i don't know the answer, but what i do know is that the album was a gift from a friend, so i didn't waste MY money.