ANGHERR SHISSPA

I've heard this album described as random, I've heard it described as hyper, but from my first listen of the album, neither of these were adequate descriptions of the music contained herein. What we have here is controlled chaos.

Much like my experience with Magma, Koenjihyakkei's music is very disciplined, but where my experience with Magma demonstrated that discipline being used to create a very controlled, dramatic experience, here that same discipline is used to allow the band to pull of things that seem utterly insane.

Take the first track, Tziidall Raszhisst, for example. It builds slow with operatic female vocals before seeming to explode into fast paced, energetic music. The music is marked more by sharp changes than the slow, repetitious progression of Magma. Yet, upon repeated listens, one can hear how the band subtly prepares for the next bombastic change, adjusting the rhythm or holding a note every so slightly longer so that when the change happens, it moulds perfectly into the song. It's much like jamming a triangle block into a circle shaped hole, only to find that the hole was triangle shaped all along.

Music this full of contrast will take several listens to be fully understood, but luckily the music is so high energy (thus where the term "hyper" probably emerges) that from the very first listen, you can't help but be swept away by it. Furthermore, some of the music is just plain catchy (although you'll never be able to convince a pop music listener of this); Quievem Vrastorr gets stuck in my head for hours after listening.

Overall, a very accomplished Zeuhl release, and much more in line with what I hope to hear from the genre in the future.