IMPROGRESSIVE

I ran into Mindflowers accidentally, and I don't remember how. It might have been the cover art that intrigued me. Since the Improgressive is categorized as Jazz-Rock/Fusion, I was kind of expecting the routine perks of fusion: ebullient musicianship, free flow of melody lines, synergistic blending of all kinds of sounds and rhythms.

Here is what came away with: on this album, the Mindflowers' players handle their musical instruments with high level of competence, but I couldn't sense enough synergy among them. Neither could I hear them groove or have fun improvising, which is kind of disappointing for an album, stylized as IMPROgressive.

Perhaps, I need to listen to the album a few more times to see if I can "tune into" it, but as of now the Improgressive as a whole has not been able to engage me emotionally. Which usually means 2 stars in my ranking rules.

And it would be 2 stars if not for the 8-minute Red Spider, which is a peculiar, but a completely palatable blend of heavy fusion with progressive metal, if there is such a thing :)

Let's make it 3 stars for Mindflowers