STERN

Stern is an excellent release from Kong. It's more experimental in tone than most of their work, and has a wider range of mood, from hard-driving "King Crimson" Red-era metal, to the techno influence of their middle period. Some of the softer pieces sound like they'd be at home on an Ozric Tentacles album (though perhaps a bit harder edged).

One of the things that I particularly like about the many moods of this album is the use of organic sounds throughout as background elements: some spoken word (some in English), laughter, bird song, etc. The album is, as always, instrumental only (apart from the background words used as sonic or rhythmic elements).

There's quite a bit of King Crimson influence at play in this album, including some guitar and bass elements that remind me of later Crimson (Beat and beyond). I'll have to do some comparative listening to see how Stern compares to some of the more recent Kong albums, but at first listen-through I'd put this as one of their best (though not at the peak of Phlegm).