JACKSON

Kido Natsuki's power trio take the listener on a brutal prog tour de force which, much like the work of groups like Yoshida Tatsuya's home group Ruins or Natsuki's own Bondage Fruit, helps to keep Japan at the forefront of forward-looking progressive music. Refusing to wallow in nostalgia, the album offers a hard-rocking take on the Ruins sound, dialling back the zeuhl influence and giving Natsuki plenty to do when it comes to intricate guitar solos. Coming close to math rock in precision at some points, it saves itself from the unemotive tedium that genre can sometimes find itself trapped in simply through offering an explosion of energy; if anyone listens to this and claims that the sheer excitement of the compositions isn't infectious, check their vital signs. At point it comes across as an avant-garde spin on the most vapid flavours of jazz muzak, with all the good and ill that suggests.