Transformations is the first release by the new Particle, or was, until RANA vet Scott Metzger announced his joining the band as a co-lead-guitarist would in fact be only temporary. These things happen, though, and Metzger’s departure doesn’t really lose ground for the transitional Particle, per se. With only eight months under their belt as fulltime members, Metzger and Ben Combe were/are only in the break-in phase of the band.
This latest DVD/CD release documents the new (now old) Particle’s February 2006 coming out parties at L.A.’s Henry Fonda Theater and San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall. With Metzger now gone, however, they feel more like an intermission than the start of the next act of Particle: a guest-laden blowout (L.A.) and a feeling-things-out show (San Francisco) that do much to reestablish the band in the post-Charlie Hitchcock era, but don’t answer all that many questions about where it goes from here. Despite inclusions of their original, now Particle-fied material, Combe and Metzger feel as much like guests as Joe Satriani, Blackalicious, Robbie Krieger, and DJ Logic. With Metzger’s departure, for now, savor this collection for its fun factor, and not for its somewhat obscured insight into the band’s future.
While both the audio and video discs cover the same two nights, each release has it
