(Musea FGBG 4316.AR, 1999, CD)
Not for the squeamish. This Japanese five-piece offers a powerful rock
sound driven completely over the top, mixed with a strong degree of
atmospheric spaciness. Well, maybe not so mixed - this band, like the title
of their album, has a definite split personality. The hard-edged material
that jumps out at the listener on the first spin could almost be classified
as zeuhl-metal with a middle-eastern twist, while the other side of the band
that reveals itself on subsequent listens has a distinct early Floydian
influence, circa Saucerful. The modal themes and middle-eastern
flavors are the glue that links the two extremes. Instrumentation varies,
but typically relies on bass, drums, saxes, keyboards, and guitars as the
primary medium, with aggressive and incomprehensible vocals, hence some
comparison to Ruins may be in order, but only on a very superficial level
for the most hard-edged numbers. Tracks like "Celtic Song" dispel any such
notions, pulling in a strong psych influence comparable to bands like Ghost,
but even that can be misleading. "Gomorrha" comes closest to De
Futura-era Magma, the throbbing bass and heavy drum attack that speeds
up as they go, which links directly into "Alien," another zeuhl-metal
monster. The overall result can be brutal and manic, or warm and soothing,
and with repeated listens the many dense layers of sound reveal themselves,
like peeling an onion, and the connections between the two extremes become
more apparent. For anyone into Magma and the zeuhl sound, or any of the
heavier Japanese bands like Happy Family or Bondage Fruit, this one is
essential. My highest recommendation.
(Originally published in Exposé #19, p. 52)
|