NIVRAYM

This is the most "acessible" of the three first studio albums from Koenji Hyakkei. The use of keyboards is very clever and puts this band in another plane, not a simple "Magma meets godzilla" cover band. Heavy riffs from the guitar put Koenji Hyakkei in touch with modern trends in the avant-garde "pop" music. But we can't forget that anyone who has ever listened to Magma can identify almost instantly the band that is the major inspiration from this nipponic outfit. Is this a negative point? Well, Koenji Hyakkei really tries to put more heavinees and to develop Magma's frenetic sound. Although Koenji Hyakkei can be considered heavier than Magma (thanks more to the keys - Moogs and all - than to the guitar) I don't feel that their sound is "dark", if you understand this word by the feeling of opression and angst caused by Magma's great works. All in all, I consider that Koenji Hyakkei was one of my great discoveries of his year, but can't hail them to the level of the ultimate zehul experience - Magma.

I would give 3,75 stars in Koenji Hyakkei's own album's scale (the better I heard being "2", followed closely by "Hundred sights of Koenji"). In general scale it deserves 3,5 stars, but I'll give 4 because it is really a "excellent addition to any prog music colletion". But don't mix the good disciple with the master!