FURIA

Now I'm outside my comfort zone when it comes to prog. Avant-noise is already as a word something I prefer staying away. But since I'm having this ambitious and challenging project dealing with the entire prog history of my country, I want at least to dip my toes on any area of Finnish prog. I have had some positive listenings with non-instrumental avant-groups such as Höyry-kone and Kuha., but Kroko's noisy instrumental stuff is perhaps harder to digest.

So, this is a trio of guitarist, bassist and drummer. Their way of making music seems to be rooted on daring and improvisational playing together, using as little overdubs as possible. Therefor it's only natural that I sense a lot of free jazz spirit in this music. It's full of action and sudden shifts, not very melodic, but nor is it disturbingly chaotic either. Here and there I'm reminded of Larks' Tongues -era KING CRIMSON. And I'm very pleased that many tracks aren't so fast and hectic as on the first hearing one might expect.

Yeah, I'm glad I didn't let the words avant & noise stop me when I borrowed Kroko's two CD's from library. These guys are absolutely gifted musicians and they're totally concentrated in making challenging music without thinking how big audience the will reach. I can recommend this for listeners of edgy instrumental avant-rock with a jazzy approach. There are as many as 18 tracks on this 44-minute album but it feels like it flows quite seamlessly.