CARAMBA!

Actually I didn’t think this release was something for our page, being more jazz-fusion than rock, not to mention metal. But as I like a lot of Jazz/Rock-fusion especially from the 80’s I thought: What the hell, I’ll give it a shot – and I wasn’t disappointed at all!

This is the bands third album, and the first after their reunion in '05/’06, the two first being released in the bands first period together from ’96 to ’00. In their period apart they played with different bands and in solo-projects (including regular touring all over the world) and as clinician, among other things.

The appearance of the guys in this trio from France makes this look like a joke (see cover – generally weird graphics and not very flattering appearances of the guys – seems they have a high level of self-irony), but damn they can play! If you know and like some of the, in my opinion, best Jazz/Rock Fusion bands and musicians like Pierre Moerlen’s Gong, Allan Holdsworth, Brand X or early Steve Vai just to mention some, you’ll love this for sure. It’s all instrumental (apart from some “lalala” and a bit of shouting on two tracks), but you don’t miss a vocal, there’s too much going on to notice that it’s not there…

The guitar playing on this album is just awesome, showing a very wide range in style, going from the silent melodic, almost popjazz-like, over the steady flowing “fret-dancing”, to the more raw and distorted riffing – Christophe Godin must be reckoned among the best in the genre by my scales.

The bass playing (by Ivan Rougny) and the drumming (by Jean Pierre Frelezeau) also is in the super league – extremely tight and with real punch, a sheer pleasure.

Apart from “just” Jazz and Rock being fusioned on this album, there are also larger or smaller inputs from Metal, Prog, Funk, Latin a la Santana, and some more weird stuff (think Zappa and so on) I can’t quite describe. The numbers on the album is very varied, and yet cohesive – a full bodied album so to speak.

Are you into some of the above (and has a sense of humor – listen to “Février Afghan” and you’ll know what I mean), or if you as a musician could use some different inspiration you gotta check this out, it’s worth your money!