ERSATZ

You can't go wrong with either of 4/3 DE TRIO's two releases. I actually enjoyed their debut a little bit more (at least the first half of it) mostly because it suits my tastes better. As the band went into the studio to record this their second album there was a lot of fighting between band members, so much so that they actually broke up. Shortly afterwards the drummer was killed tragically in a car accident. This eventually prompted the rest of the band to go back to the studio to finish off the record as a tribute to their friend.

The record starts off with an orchestral song called "Solmhinarm" as drums and mellotron eventually join in as the track gets louder.The guitar 2 1/2 minutes in sounds great ! Piano arrives 4 minutes in as the song settles down. "Ersatz" takes us to some jazz flavoured music.The guitar melodies that come and go are incredible. At first they are raw sounding and aggressive, then they turn to a Fripp like style before he just starts showing off. Haha. Organ comes in as the song gets heavy 6 1/2 minutes in with some blistering guitar. "Bleu Cerise" opens with various sounds with no real melody. Drums come in 2 minutes in followed by guitar.The song turns jazzy after 4 minutes with some good bass and trumpet. A catchy guitar and drum melody follows. 6 minutes in we get some Fripp like guitar melodies. Nice. There is also some violin and mandolin on this track. "Ayahusca" is my favourite studio track on this record. 6 minutes of bliss that includes mellotron, drums, organ and guitar. Just beautiful !

"Oceane" features some intricate acoustic guitar melodies that have a Spanish feel to them 2 minutes in. "Kossmokardak" is the longest rack at over 16 minutes. It's jazzy until the song starts to get more aggressive and darker. The tempo speeds up as a RUSH vibe comes into play. The organ play is incredible as is the guitar 10 1/2 minutes in as it goes on and on for 2 minutes. Nice. "La Blonde" is the only song with vocals as a guest female singer adds her voice to the album. Her vocals are in French and she is joined by one of the band members. This is a laid back, dreamy song with mellotron. Just a beautiful soundscape 4 1/2 minutes in,and the organ play a minute later is great as he puts on a show.

The two bonus tracks are killer, especially the first one "D.DAR#1" which reminds me of LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT. A heavy, aggressive song with amazing drumming. This is jaw dropping, exhilarating music ! The other bonus track "D.DAR#3" is slower paced but still heavy. It kicks in 2 minutes in and gets even heavier 4 minutes in. I can't recommend either of their two albums enough. Satisfaction guaranteed !